Another jawan-officer face-off reported, army orders probe

Yet another case of indiscipline has hit the army, with a colonel of the National Cadet Corps being allegedly assaulted by jawans in Batala in Punjab, following which a court of inquiry has been ordered into the matter.

This is the second such incident in the last five days after jawans beat up officers in Meerut in Uttar Pradesh after an altercation during a boxing match there.

Colonel B M Hansra, the commanding officer of the 22 NCC, Army Wing, unit in Batala, was allegedly assaulted on Monday by a Havildar after he was scolded by the unit officials for not turning up for duty in time, sources said.

The Havildar is from the Sikh Light Infantry regiment and is on deputation to NCC. A COI, under a senior officer, has been ordered to investigate the incident, they said.

On Thursday, two Majors and one jawan belonging to the 10 Sikh Light Infantry unit were injured after they clashed during a boxing match in Meerut.

In the last couple of years, the incidents of face-offs between officers and jawans have gone up.

On August 8, last year, jawans had agitated against the commanding officer and certain functionaries of the 16 Cavalry unit in Samba in Jammu region, while on May 10-11, 2012, officers and other ranks of the 226 Artillery unit had clashed at the Mahe field firing range in Leh.

On April 29, 2010, an altercation had taken place between an officer and a jawan of the 45 Cavalry unit in Gurdaspur.

The army has already taken steps against its personnel in these cases. More than 200 officers and jawans faced disciplinary or administrative action last year.

After incidents of clashes between officers and jawans, army commanders were told by army chief General Bikram Singh to have zero tolerance in such cases.

The defence ministry has underlined that exemplary punishment should be meted out to the guilty to ensure "necessary preventive lessons" to the personnel.