Two army officers accused of beating, torturing Jawan

Wife claims her husband was brutally tormented by a Captain and Major, in front of the whole unit

ANOTHER low for the Indian Army. The wife of a jawan has alleged that her husband was brutally beaten up by a Major and a Captain. Archana Jha, wife of Sepoy Santosh Kumar, posted in Arunachal Pradesh, claimed that the two officers from his unit 15 Mahar physically assaulted her husband on May 26 and then he was made to stand naked in cold water before the whole unit.

The torture
According to Archana, on May 26, at about 10 am, Major Sameer Dixit and Captain Uday Bhanaut called Santosh in the adjutant's office and suddenly started beating him with a belt, sticks and their hands and feet till he fell down. They then brought him outside the office and called all the unit personnel and made him strip before them. They went on to pour cold water on him and he was also made to stand in a tub of freezing water for around 45 minutes in temperature of around 15 degrees. He was then beaten again, even on his private parts and more cold water was poured on him.

Then the humiliation
Santosh was then sent to his company lines where he fainted and was taken to the Medical Inspection (MI) room. From the MI room, seeing his condition, he was immediately shifted to the nearest hospital. Even there, the doctor was unable to stabilise him and he was shifted to 181 military hospital at Tenga valley on May 27, 2007 in Arunachal Pradesh.

The alleged atrocities of the officers did not end here. According to Archana, Major Sameer Dixit then came to the hospital to threaten her husband, who was still unstable and was struggling for his life, and told him: "Tum sepoy ho aur main officer hu. Maine tumhe mara, ye kisi ko mat batana. Agar tum aisa karoge to tumhe jaan se marker accident dikha dunga. (You are a jawan and I am an officer. Don't tell anyone that I beat you up. If you tell anyone, I will get you killed and declare it an accident)."

Family seeks action
Santosh's father Laxmikant Jha has also lodged an FIR against the two officers at Dirang in Arunachal Pradesh besides writing letters to Defence Minister A K Antony, Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar and Bharti Singh, wife of Army Chief Gen V K Singh, levelling allegations of "torture".

"I am afraid of the life and well-being of my husband. We want that he should be immediately transferred to some other regiment and a proper inquiry set up. Moreover the commanding officer of the hospital directed his doctor on duty, not to prepare a Medico-legal certificate (MLC) report and the same was recorded by the doctor on duty in the medical report," alleged Archana. When contacted, Army Headquarters in Delhi said the matter was being looked into, but did not elaborate.