New Delhi: Taking exception to the conduct of some ex-servicemen on social media, the Indian Army has warned of withholding or withdrawing pensions besides possible registration of police cases, ThePrint has learnt.
Sources in the defence and security establishment told ThePrint that it had come to the Army’s attention that some ex-servicemen have engaged their media handles into “inciting and converging public opinion on matters related to service life, service conditions and service privileges”.
A note, issued by the Discipline and Vigilance branch of the Army in May, said, “The internal reports received in the organisation have warned of such videos to be detrimental to the image of Army, being defamatory in nature.”
The note which has been sent to the Army’s Command said that certain videos could spread “false narrative, which has the potential to create officer-men rift and if left unchecked, it may create mistrust and disharmony amongst the ranks and file”.
Other concerns flagged by the army pertain to influencing the public mindset which may have serious ramifications and bring about a “divide in the organisational structure which is prone to exploitation by inimical forces”.
The ex-servicemen’s social media posts, which get picked up by the media, become news for local channels.
It notes that if the trend for such content is not arrested, it may further go on to become news for national and international media.
“With regard to flagging and filing of court cases, videos with ‘objectionable content’ could come to be flagged with the Channel Regulator. Similarly, a social media channel could be flagged with the platform regulator to block the video and even the channel,” the note states.
Going a step forward, the Army will also resort to file a “suitable case” in the court to bring down the video or channel, the note added.
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FIR & pension
In case the content put out by the ex-servicemen appears to be “defamatory”, having potential to sway serving soldiers away from the army, who are subject to the Army Act, 1950, it may invite an FIR before the civil police, the note said.
The note gave out particular sections of the Indian Penal Code that can be invoked for various kinds of offences and a decision on the same will be taken by the local military authority.
It noted that in recent times, the Supreme Court has directed the states to register suo moto FIRs on hate speech incidents and proceed against offenders without waiting for someone to lodge a complaint.
The Supreme Court has observed that an FIR can be filed under Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on the ground of religion), Section 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), Section 505 (public mischief) and Section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) of the IPC, the Army note states.
On the issue of pension, the army has cited the Regulations for Army 2008 (Part-I), Para 8 which states that “the Competent Authority may by an order in writing withhold or withdraw a pension or part thereof whether permanently or for a specified period, if the petitioner is convicted of a serious crime or is found guilty of grave misconduct”.
Furthermore, as per para 4 of said regulations, future good conduct shall be an implied condition for grant of pension allowance. Thus, the person already granted can be withheld, either on conviction by court of a serious crime or when the pensioner is found guilty by a competent authority of a grave misconduct. In this regard, the competent authority is AG (Adjutant General), the note states.
Accordingly, a case may be taken up for serving of show cause notice in such ex-servicemen, the note said.
It also directed the local military authority to proactively engage with the ex-servicemen at regular intervals through outreach programmes and take action on genuine complaints from them.
(Edited by Anumeha Saxena)
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