E-Paper
Fight for space or unruly behaviour?
THE JANUARY 23 incident in which five persons including a woman were run over by a train is still fresh in public memory. Reason: Army and BSF jawans had allegedly pushed those killed off the Farakka Express onto a parallel track. The victims had fallen right in front of another train running on a parallel track. Incidents of unruly behaviour by jawans with fellow passengers have been on the rise. Recently, a group of jawans and students clashed with each other.
THE JANUARY 23 incident in which five persons including a woman were run over by a train is still fresh in public memory. Reason: Army and BSF jawans had allegedly pushed those killed off the Farakka Express onto a parallel track. The victims had fallen right in front of another train running on a parallel track.
Incidents of unruly behaviour by jawans with fellow passengers have been on the rise. Recently, a group of jawans and students clashed with each other.
However, well-known psychiatrist Dr Prabhat Sitholey refused to attribute the cause of unruly behaviour by the jawans to the tough training they undergo.
“Training has nothing to do with aggressive behaviour,” he said, and added, it was basically the fight for space. “Wherever there is overcrowding, it has been seen that people crave for space that can give them comfort,” says the psychiatrist. He further says, for instance in any general compartment instances of people being thrown out of trains, trampled upon come to light. Such cases mostly happen in coaches reserved for the jawans. Passengers try and enter these coach and face resistance. One of the ORs (Other Ranks) in the Army said the Railways has made a special arrangement for a general coach for the Army and it is solely reserved for the jawans. “The entry for other passengers is barred to these coaches,” he says and refused to comment further.
Former Army Commander Lt-Gen Ram Subramanyam, during his interaction with mediapersons, at the time of his retirement had said that the Army was very strict about such incidents and immediate action was taken against the culprits. He had also said that sometimes the “evil acts” are committed by other paramilitary forces but they are attributed to the Army.
The Indian Railways, on the other hand, has sent a letter to the Indian Army to ensure that an officer or a responsible person so as to prevent untoward incidents monitors the jawans. “About three months ago, the Government Railway Police sent a letter to the Army headquarters demanding an officer rank personnel to ensure discipline among the jawans while traveling by trains,” said the Additional Director General of Police (ADG) B K Bhalla.
He said the reply was awaited from the army. As regards prosecution, he said that the prosecution was done under the Indian Penal Code.
