Yet another video of a jawan complaining against some officers’ misuse of the sahayak system in the Army has surfaced on social media with the soldier alleging that he was punished for refusing to do the duties of an orderly.
In response, the Army said Sepoy Sindhav Jogidas Lakhubhai had never been employed as a “buddy” of any officer, and rejected the “allegations” of “ill-treatment” of jawans by superiors as “false and baseless”.
According to the Army statement, Sepoy Lakhubhai of the Army Medical Corps (AMC) is employed in the trade of ‘Housekeeper’ and has rendered nearly three years of service in the Army.
“Some officers in the Army treat their sahayaks as slaves. They are forced to do everything. Those who open their mouth are punished,” the jawan alleged in the video. He goes on to say that he was asked to do orderly duties after being late from leave by two days and punished when he refused to do so.
Sepoy Lakhubhai said he did not wish to put this on social media and approached the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Defence Minister’s office.
“On January 21, 2016, I approached the PMO and when reply came, disciplinary action was taken against me. Court of Inquiry was ordered twice and I was harassed for a year. I still kept quiet,” Jawan Jogidas said in the video.
He said he had later written to Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat but there was no reply.
Two soldiers had earlier taken to social media venting their views on the discrimination that happened to jawans under the orderly system. The sahayak or orderly system is a colonial practice under which jawans are assigned to officers to assist them in their personal tasks.
Following the videos, Gen Rawat warned personnel from using social media and put out a whatsapp number for soldiers to convey their problems directly. The Army said they have conducted an investigation and rejecting his charges. In its statement the Army said Jogidas was fined for unauthorised absence from duty after he was “late in rejoining duties after availing the leave for 2015.”
He later opted to leave service but was counselled against it after which he opted for a field posting. The statement said “he refused to perform, was a mandated task of his trade of Housekeeper” for which he was “awarded Seven Days Imprisonment within the Unit.”
Subsequent to his release from confinement in January 2016, Sepoy Lakhubhai had written complaints against his superiors, the Army said and stated, “The complaints were independently investigated through a ‘One-Man Inquiry (OMI)’ and were found to be baseless.”
Further a Staff Court of Inquiry also found him blameworthy for having “violated the established Chain of Command and laid down chain of correspondence” and was tried summarily for this act of indiscipline and awarded 14 days’ pay fine.
The statement advised that media must “verify the factual information from Army before going public on such issues that cast defamatory allegations on the institution of Indian Army.”
