Friday, January 25, 2013

Re: [IAC#RG] Justice Verma Report: Verma commission report draws armed forces' fire

I am sure Justice Verma has based his recommendation on empirical data. It would be worth knowing the incidences of rape by the Armed and Security Forces where AFSPA is in force and the rate of convictions in such cases. They will be skewed. The % of incidences will be very low as compared to the All India averages and convictions very high.I am by no means suggesting that they do not happen.
If the COs and sub unit commanders are to be tried under "................... breech of command responsibility" I am afraid it will result in a very preposterous situation.
For instance let us take a case of an area say in Kuppwara between the Shamshabari range and the LOC. Say there are three accusations made in a Battalion area, So one Commanding Officer three company Commanders and a number of soldiers will be relieved of their duties and attached either in Kupwarra or Srinagar. 
Our Judicial system is so "chalta rahe chalta rahe" that it would take them ages to come to a conclusion even if evidence is available for them to pronounce a verdict. Then there is the option of going to a higher court in appeal and of course the Supreme Court. 
Personally I feel if this comes into force there will be hundreds of accusations made and half of Northern Command will be on attachment. Who will man the LOC? It can best be left to Justice Verma and his committee members to decide. 
One has had practical experience  of   serving in such areas with various accusations hurled at one's Unit. 
Amongst accusations of burning villages,torturing villagers,showing Madhuri Dixit movies to their women folk with a view to corrupt their mind ,( the male b lighters would enjoy the movies) bullying teachers to attend schools, torturing a FCI clerk who had sold off rations meant for villagers,  
the crowning glory was the" hurling of a 60 year old woman from the second floor to her death" and "child abuse".( I am too lazy to enumerate the ridiculous ones which are numerous- forcing villages to brush their teeth!!!!!!!!!)
In the first instance one had to go to the old lady's house, have a cup of tea with her (  most graciously offered & accepted ) take  photographs with her standing in the balcony( the crime spot) along with self and the village Headman and send them to the higher formation stating that the Lady is alive and kicking,has an enviable BP of 120/90, a perfect ECG and  not lost her touch at humour and culinary art.Unfortunately there was no Notary in my area for I would have taken an affidavit. I only know what hell I went through for those two days.That was a tenure when I came to know what loneliness of command means.I lived it for three years and three months.(The photographs had to be developed in Jammu, Srinagar being defunct in all respect)
I was looking after 7 villages in my area and as we always did, planned  to celebrate the Republic Day right on the LOC. Without exaggeration 250 meters from the enemy. One of my NCO's was detailed to supervise the school children (we used to run schools) practising the unfurling of the National Flag and singing the National Anthem.The youngest student did the Honour.
 Jan is definitely a cold month in Kupwara area. We were accused of child abuse. In one of the local newspaper & magazine I was described as Adolf Hitler and my second in Command as Eichman. It was only when we produced photographic evidence of the celebrations did powers that be did not bother us.
If Seema wishes to check this out, my Unit maintains an important document box in which the articles and the description of the entire episode is kept.We also have The Digest of Service which is maintained on a daily basis.
Fortunately for us we did not have to field an accusation of rape. 
Justice Verma should not toy around with AFSPA. It should either continue or should be removed.
 If he does want to toy around with it he must spend some time with us folks and listen to the practical difficulties of operating in such areas.Thereafter, after very deliberate consideration he should recommend what he intends.
He also needs to do a lot of introspection of his own system whose pinnacle he has reached. Even if our judicial system improves its efficiency by a modest 30 % there can be so much good they can do for society at large.
 

On Fri, Jan 25, 2013 at 6:06 PM, seema mustafa <seemamustafa@gmail.com> wrote:
Ridiculous comments by some in the story. If the CO can't ensure the conduct of his men towards women all the more reason for the ordinary criminal laws of the land to be made applicable instead of protecting sexual molesters under AfSPA. 
The false case excuse has been heard many times before. One there are very few women who will say they have been raped when they have not; and besides surely the courts and the investigating authorities can be trusted to being justice? The army can always represent its men if it is convinced of their innocence in the courts.

Seema Mustafa

On 25-Jan-2013, at 9:40, swarup sarkar <swarup1973@gmail.com> wrote:

What can be our stand on this issue?

Verma commission report draws armed forces' fire

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Verma-commission-report-draws-armed-forces-fire/articleshow/18174402.cms

NEW DELHI: The J S Verma Committee report has come under intense criticism from security forces for suggesting "breach of command responsibility", holding a commanding officer (CO) responsible if a junior commits rape. The report's suggestion to amend the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) has also been opposed by the armed and the paramilitary forces.

Many COs and senior officers are arguing that the breach of command responsibility was unacceptable and could lead to COs ending up in jail for upto seven years for the misdeeds of a junior.

"I have almost 1,000 personnel under me, and they are spread across some five kilometres. They could go on leave, or temporary duty. How am I to ensure their sexual conduct throughout the year, 24 hours a day?" asks the CO of an Army unit.

Officials in the Union home ministry too were taken aback by the panel's "unusual" suggestion to include "breach of command responsibility" as an offence under Section 376. "How can the officer commanding a battalion be held responsible if a junior he sends on a patrol suddenly chooses to go morally astray?" asked an officer, adding that vicarious liability in such a case is "nothing short of absurd".

Another senior officer of the security establishment indicated that the forces deployed in conflict zones like Jammu & Kashmir, Maoist-affected states and the insurgency-hit areas in the north-east, have to constantly guard against foisting of false cases by local, self-proclaimed rights groups who may actually be a front of terrorist or extremist groups. "The J S Verma committee's suggestion, if accepted, will only give such activists a legal handle to falsely implicate not only the jawan but his CO as well," the official warned.

A senior CRPF officer posted in a Naxal-infested area said, "Inserting breach of command responsibility in Section 376 is stretching the law too far. There is so much moral degradation in the society. Anyone can commit a crime on a given day. How can you hold the commanding officer responsible because a constable has gone berserk. No one will work for the forces then."

A BSF officer from the Eastern frontier added, "This is akin to jailing the mother for the crime of the son. We already have a mechanism where commanding officer is reprimanded for transgressions of a junior officer; administrative actions are taken. But punishing him for individual aberration is just not on. Unless there is an organised criminal behaviour in a unit, commanding officer cannot be held responsible."

The J S Verma Committee has recommended the introduction of a new section 376F in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for offence of breach of command responsibility. The proposal is to hold responsible "whoever, being a public servant in command, control or supervision of the police or armed forces...or assuming command whether lawfully or otherwise, fails to exercise control over persons under his or her command, control, or supervision and as a result of such failure" rape and similar offences are committed.

The COs would be held "guilty of the offence of breach of command responsibility" if he "failed to take necessary and reasonable measures within his or her power to prevent or repress the commission of the said offences," the committee has recommended.

Presently, there is no criminal liability for a CO of an Army unit in cases where his subordinates are involved in any kind of breach of discipline. It does of course invite administrative action, or even dismissed from service. The introduction of a criminal liability by a CO for actions of a junior would add a completely new and extremely challenging burden to being a CO, say army officers.

The Committee has also recommended amendments to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), saying, that "impunity for systematic or isolated sexual violence in the process of Internal Security duties is being legitimized" by AFSPA.





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