In November, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took some 'risk' by ordering a partial withdrawal of troops from Jammu and Kashmir in view of the 'visible improvement' in the state's security situation. 'We have taken some risk. But they are not unacceptable risks,' he later stated. The withdrawal of troops began on November 17.

While this piece of news was widely greeted, other news about the men in uniform only generated dismay.

First, an army battalion was accused of staging a fake encounter in the Siachen glacier. A Court of Inquiry held three officers - Major Surinder Singh, Company Commander of a Gorkha Battalion, Col K D Singh, Commanding Officer of the battalion and his adjutant Major Rohit Lama - guilty. Major Surinder Singh was subsequently dismissed from service.

The army also found itself at the receiving end of rape allegations. Seven Rashtriya Rifles personnel were accused of gang-raping a 19-year-old woman in Anantnag district. In November, a major was accused of raping a woman and her 12-year-old daughter in Handwara in north Kashmir. The officer, Major Rahman, is facing a court martial. Then, towards the end of December, residents of Salar-Shiekhpura village in Pahalgam district accused army men of raping a woman in her residence.

It was not just in J&K. Even in distant Assam, Assam Rifles personnel were involved in a controversy over the custodial death of 32-year-old Thangjam Manorama. They were accused of raping and murdering her on July 11. Widespread protests followed demanding the withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Forces Act, which gives paramilitary forces in the north-east fighting extremism special powers.

In fact the agitation also included nude protest by a group of woman -- something unheard of in India.

Also read: Manipur: Looming Implosion

Photographs: AFP/AFP/Getty Images and SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP/Getty Images