Dear Honourable Prime Minister,

With great pain, I want to bring to your notice the assaults that are continuously being inflicted on Army Personnel by the Police in our country even when you are our Prime Minister. Please note all such atrocities are being committed in the states ruled by the BJP.

Retired Brigadier Jailed in Pune Rural

A retired Brigadier who had gone to save the workers and MSEB contractors from the stone pelting by gangsters had to fire in the air to deter them. The Pune Rural police arrested him on the night of 15 May 2024 and his act of self-defence was manipulated to ‘Attempt to Murder’. As he had fired in the air there were no injuries to anyone. He was in jail for nearly two months and was let off only after he obtained bail from the Bombay High Court. The remark of the HC while granting him bail was: “The act was in self-defense and the video recording does not support the case of Prosecution.” Bail Granted. Criminal Bail Application No. 2272 of 2024. Details as attached.

Jaipur Atrocity

A serving Army soldier serving in J&K while on leave in Jaipur was arrested, stripped, beaten, and abused by the Police at Shipra Path Police station in Jaipur on 13 Aug 2024. Very minor actions have been taken against the errant policemen. Details are in the YouTube link.

Gwalior: Army Officer Beaten by the Police.

A serving Major of the Indian Army was beaten up by police on 23 Aug 2024.

Brutality at Bharatpur Police Station in Orissa

A serving Army Officer who had gone to Bharatpur Police station to lodge a report on road rage on 15 Sep 2024. He was tortured, and put under lockup without a chargesheet. The rule is that a serving Army Personnel if detained by the civil police must immediately inform the nearest Army unit. His fiancée (daughter of a Brigadier) who was also with him to complain about the road rage was taken aside after the officer was put in the lock-up and beaten, with hands and legs tied, and sexually assaulted.

The above incidents have shaken the confidence of serving army personnel and veterans of the Armed Forces in the police force. It has broken the morale of the Armed Forces. In the past, the Armed Forces had taken the law into their own hands and dealt with erring police personnel and the concerned police stations. However, with great restraint and effective command and control of the Army’s senior officers, such outright actions have been prevented.

Dear Prime Minister, you very well know, leaving aside a few islands of excellence the police force is a cesspool of corruption and incompetency. Filing false charges, manipulating witnesses, inflicting torture on witnesses to extort confessions, generating false witnesses, slapping grave charges, and then seeking bribes to dilute the charges are common shenanigans of the corrupt police force. The Bharatpur Police Station in Orissa did not even have a CCTV which is mandatory for all the police stations as per the SC Ruling. It means that not a single police senior officer has ever visited the police station to check whether they are equipped as per the SC ruling.

Dear Prime Minister, anger and chagrin prevails in the Armed Forces and the Veteran community on the above incidents. Senior police officers cannot get away with such brutality within their jurisdictions. Are they not responsible for such lapses and are they not held accountable? Ultimately, knowing the system, nothing will happen to any of these errant policemen boosting their confidence to repeat such abuses. Let the law of the land prevail. The moment the Army loses faith and confidence in the Government it will be a sad day for our nation.

Profound regards
Lt Gen PG Kamath Veteran