The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has punished a dozen of its personnel for offering Eid prayers outside their camp. The CRPF men had gone to a mosque in the locality in civvies to offer prayers without proper permission from officers concerned.“We have punished them,” Inspector General of CRPF Sunil Kumar Jain said. “At all our camps we have a temple, mosque and a gurdwara and jawans can offer prayers at these religious places and in no way can they go outside the camp for offering prayers.”Jain said it was a minor punishment which was served to these 12 men. “Given the situation in Kashmir one has to be very careful. One never knows when militants are going to strike,” he said, adding that offering prayers at a mosque outside the camp could endanger lives.Sources said after an inquiry by senior officers of the force, the 12 jawans from Group Centre Rambagh were found guilty of breaching discipline. Those punished included 10 jawans and two Hawaldars. A CRPF spokesman in Srinagar said the two Hawaldars had been reprimanded while the rest were ‘confined to the lines’ for five days.The CRPF said the punishment was necessary. “In past there have been many incidents where security and police men were shot at while leaving mosques. In 2004, militants gunned down Deputy Inspector General of Police Mohammad Amin when he was coming out of a mosque at Barzulla locality in Srinagar after offering Eid prayers,” Jain said. “So the jawans have to be always alert and make it sure that they do not move out of their camps without the permission of immediate officer.”
