Indian army denies mutiny claims
NEW DELHI: The Indian army on Sunday denied reports of a mutiny by a group of soldiers in the north-eastern region of the country, and spoke of a scuffle in which an officer was injured.
The Hindu described the incident as a case of serious disciplinary breach in the ranks of the army. It said an officer was injured when some jawans got “emotionally” agitated at the death of their colleague during routine training in the Northeast. “A case of death of a jawan during routine training activity has taken place in an infantry unit in Northeast,” one officer was quoted by the paper as saying. He denied rumours of a “mutiny” doing the rounds in the social media.
The Hindu quoted officials as saying a jawan complained of chest pain prior to a route march and was checked by unit medical officer and was found to be fit. He later collapsed during the route march and was taken to the field ambulance where he succumbed.
“About 4-5 jawans got emotional and agitated on the death of their colleague and when being consoled by adjutant indulged in agitated behaviour leading to minor scuffle,” army sources said.
The officer was injured in the scuffle however no one was injured seriously, according to the paper. “The incident is being investigated as is the practice in all cases of death during training,” the paper said.
Published in Dawn, Business & Finance weekly, May 16th, 2016