The military leadership resents the overarching power of the bureaucrats in the MoD.
The recent Army-police face off in Bomdila, Arunachal Pradesh, points at a deeper problem of mutual suspicion, jealousy and antipathy between the military and the bureaucracy.
The incident could have been nipped in the bud if not for the rigidity on both sides.
On 2 November at 9.30 pm, two soldiers of 2 Arunachal Scouts were arrested by the police for allegedly fighting with locals and misbehaving with women while in an inebriated state, at the Buddha Mahotsav celebrations in Bomdila. As per the police version, the soldiers got involved in a scuffle with the police personnel and were put in the lock-up. The soldiers were handed over to the officers of the unit when they came to the police station.
As per the Army version, the soldiers were arrested without any reason and were allegedly beaten black and blue at the police station. The police did not immediately inform the Army authorities about the arrest as laid down by the home ministry notification. The SHO, Ashok Tayeng, was allegedly in an inebriated state and misbehaved with the officers who went to take the arrested soldiers back.
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The police had done nothing more than what it does to all common citizens of India accused of petty offences. There is nothing uncommon about policemen roughing up arrested citizens disregarding the law. In these matters, our police is a law unto itself. However, the SHO forgot that soldiers are not “common citizens” who will meekly submit to such police actions. The military believes that it has a unique status in the society, which must be respected and treated with dignity by the police. More so, when it is virtually the last “institution standing”.
As per the police version, on the morning of 3 November, the Commanding Officer came to the police station and threatened to kill the SHO if he did not render an unconditional apology. The civil administration anticipating trouble deployed the CRPF and the State Armed Police. Later in the day, 100 soldiers of 2 Arunachal Scouts led by officers allegedly ransacked the police station, damaged government vehicles and beat up the policemen on duty. The deputy commissioner and the SP were abused and stone-pelted. The SP was allegedly hit in the abdomen with the butt of a rifle.
As per the Army, the Commanding Officer, not satisfied with the response of the SHO, had gone back to meet the SP who had come to the police station. While the meeting was on, his Quick Reaction Team was allegedly provoked into a scuffle by the police. Despite the provocation, the soldiers exercised restraint. The police fired some shots in the air. The situation was defused by the Commanding Officer and the SP.
This is not the first time that an altercation has taken place between the military and the police. Over the years, similar incidents have occurred at the rate of one or two per year. Some were of a very serious nature. On the night of 23/24 June 1994, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Assam police personnel fired at an unarmed army leave party travelling by train at the Lumding railway station, after an altercation over the search of their baggage. Two soldiers were killed and three were wounded.
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Most of these incidents were resolved due to the mature handling by senior military, police and IAS officers. Also, in most cases while the military personnel found guilty were punished under military law, however, no action was ever taken against the guilty police personnel.
The reaction to the Bomdila incident was unusual. The media remained seized of it for nearly a week. On the social media, the military veterans, the Indian Civil and Administrative Services (Central) Association (IC&AS) and the IPS association jumped into the fray. If that was not enough, the defence minister and the minister of state for home rushed to Bomdila for an on-the-spot informal investigation.
Why all this hullabaloo when there was little to debate? The military is not above the law. Soldiers making merry in an inebriated state is not unusual and neither is their arrest by the police.
In fact, in the era bygone, the Military Police itself used to patrol the streets to keep a check on their personnel on ‘out pass’. A practice inexplicably stopped. What was unusual here was the alleged thrashing of the soldiers and not reporting their arrest, and the arrogant behaviour of the SHO. The matter could have been nipped in the bud by the Commanding Officer and the DC/SP after the case came to their notice. However, both rigidly “stood by” their subordinates. The Army seems to have been peeved at its “izzat” being slighted by a “renegade” police and the DC/SP felt that their supremacy was being crushed under the Army’s boots. In my view, there are deeper underlying reasons for this usual reaction.
In a democracy, the armed forces function under the political control as laid down in the Constitution. In India, politicians take little or no interest in the matters military and have virtually delegated the control to the bureaucracy. This has given the bureaucrats in the MoD an overarching power with a veto over all aspects of the armed forces. Military leadership resents this because it undermines their authority and autonomy. Unfortunately, the IPS and the IRS have also jumped on to the bandwagon to assert their superiority. Rather than establish a healthy relationship to further the national interest, there exists an environment of mistrust.
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Over the last four years, the military has been deified and dragged into every facet of national life by the political class. So overwhelming has been the public and political support for the Army, that blatant wrongs committed by the Army in counter-insurgency operations violating its own rules, regulations and law, have been hailed as acts of heroism. While the Army is revelling in this political and public adulation, it is also sulking due to its status, honour and pay and allowances having been undermined over the years vis-à-vis the civil services.
The Bomdila incident had both the politicians and the IAS/IPS worried. It suits the politicians to “stand by” the Army in Jammu and Kashmir, but not in a state where the MLAs change their political allegiance en masse and overnight. The massive public support for the Army against a “politicised” police has sent the IAS/IPS scurrying to guard their turf.
The fallout of this incident is only a reflection of the bigger problem. Nothing can be more dangerous for national security than an arrogant and powerful bureaucracy and a deified but sulking military.
Lt Gen H S Panag PVSM, AVSM (R) served in the Indian Army for 40 years. He was GOC in C Northern Command and Central Command. Post retirement, he was Member of Armed Forces Tribunal.