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Journalism of Courage
For decades the laws of the land have required the civil administration, including law enforcement agencies, to take extra care of the security and welfare of servicemen and their families. This is for the simple reason that these men are required to guard the nation in sunshine or in rain, high in the mountains or in dense jungle, so that the rest of us 8212; including the police 8212; can sleep in peace. For a decade and a half the army has been involved in supporting the civil administration in combating cross-border terrorism and maintaining internal security which, very often, has been allowed to deteriorate thanks to the inaction of the administration. The gunning down of a young, serving army jawan in Bihar by the state8217;s law enforcement agency last week, therefore, must come as a deep shock to all Indians.
The details of the occurrence, going by the reports thus far, indicate that the soldier was on leave and had probably overstayed. But by no logic or law would this make him a 8216;8216;deserter8217;8217; unless the army declares him so. And even then there are laws to deal with such cases much short of killing him. After all, there can be many reasons why an employee may overstay his or her leave. Unlike what may happen in other sectors, one of the most professional armies of the world like ours would not just sit back and wait for news of one of its men who is supposed to be on duty related to national defence. But it is also not expected that a notice of overstay would in anyway be a licence to use undue force, leave alone gunning him down. All reports indicate that the killing of the unarmed Amitesh Sharma in a by-lane from where he could not flee, was neither justifiable nor an error of judgement.
