Monday, December 4, 2017

Is this a retaliatory prosecution?

Lance Naik Yagya Pratap Singh is an Indian Army soldier whose video complaining about poor food and other matters went viral a few months ago. He was to have retired on November 30. Instead, he was handed a charge sheet that day, and will be tried by a court-martial, according to this report. Excerpt:
[C]laiming threat to his life, he has written a letter to Fatehgarh SP demanding security. “I had written a letter dated June 16, 2016, and demanded that orderly system must be abolished in the Army. The Army hasn’t probed the matter and several attempts have been made at my life. After November 30, I will become a civilian therefore it’s your responsibility to secure my life,” the letter reads. His letter also mentions names of four senior officers from who have allegedly threatened him of dire consequences. 
Earlier in January, the Lance Naik had raised voice against the British era practice—which the Army has refused to do away with—of posting jawans as orderlies with officers. “On June 15, 2016, I wrote to the Prime Minister, President, Home Ministry, the Supreme Court and the Human Rights Commission. This was about exploitation of jawans by senior officers,” said Yagya Pratap in a video released to the media by his wife, Richa Singh, adding that “subsequently, our office received a letter from PMO and it took our brigade by storm. Thereafter, my senior officers have started harassing me.” 
“But in my letter, I hadn’t written anything against the Army. I didn’t pass on any sensitive document of the Army such as location of ammunition depots, maps or any kind of sensitive information,” he said, adding, “I just wrote a letter in which I urged that soldiers trained to defend the country shouldn’t be compelled to polish their officers’ shoes or walk their pet dogs. This practice needs to be done away with.”

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