Army orders enquiry into alleged manhandling of civilian in J&K's Rajouri

Jammu, April 18: The army on Friday said it has ordered an enquiry into the alleged manhandling of a civilian in J&K's Rajouri district.

An incident has come to light wherein certain individuals were allegedly manhandled by army personnel in Rajouri district, a Defence Ministry statement said.

It said the army had an input on the likely movement of terrorists in a vehicle in this sensitive area, and "accordingly, search operations were being conducted. Preliminary information suggests that on being stopped, the individual tried to snatch the weapon of the soldiers on duty and initiated a scuffle with them".

“However, an enquiry has been initiated. Should any personnel be found guilty of misconduct, strict action will be taken in accordance with the existing law," the army said in the statement.

"The Indian Army remains steadfast in upholding the highest standards of professionalism and discipline in the conduct of counterterror operations. All sections of the society are requested to continue to cooperate and collaborate with the Indian Army for collective and comprehensive security in this sensitive area," it added.

Reports said that on Thursday, a vehicle was stopped in the Sunderbani area of Rajouri at a ‘naka’ (checkpost) set up by the army.

The vehicle was carrying three persons going to a marriage function. Two of the three occupants of the vehicle got down and when they told the soldiers posted at the naka that the third occupant was a senior professor teaching in Delhi, the soldiers insisted that he should also deboard and this resulted in a scuffle.

There have been incidents of some unpleasant face-offs between the army and the civilians at some places.

The security forces have promptly responded by initiating enquiries into incidents of high-handedness by men in uniform when such incidents came to light.

In many cases, exemplary punishment has been handed down to personnel of the army or the security forces when such incidents were confirmed by departmental enquiries.