4 soldiers indicted in Congo sex scandal

Army chief General Bikram Singh on Wednesday said four soldiers, including an officer, had been indicted by a court of inquiry into a sex scandal in the Democratic Republic of Congo where Indian peacekeepers had been accused of fathering children. HT reports.

Army chief General Bikram Singh on Wednesday said four soldiers, including an officer, had been indicted by a court of inquiry into a sex scandal in the Democratic Republic of Congo where Indian peacekeepers had been accused of fathering children.

HT Image

The army has launched disciplinary action against a jawan of the 6th battalion of the Sikh Regiment after the DNA tests proved that he had fathered a child in the Congo.

It has also initiated disciplinary action against a major, a junior commissioned officer and another jawan for alleged lapses in the same case. The incident was reported in 2008.

The entire battalion had come under a cloud after reports that children with "Indian features" were spotted near areas where the peacekeepers were deployed.

The United Nations' Office of Internal Oversight Services had shared details of the case with the Indian authorities.

However, the army probe has established that the rot did not run as deep as the powerful UN investigating agency had feared.