Courtmartials et al

The Indian Army convicts a soldier for fragging and is awaiting the approval of the Central Government and the Top Army Brass. A court martial is composed of only officers and so civil liberty groups wonder if it might not be biased against a jawan who has perpretrated a crime against its officer community.

It is fine to punish a soldier who indeed is guilty of fragging and therby sending a strong message down the chain of command. However the Armed Forces also need to go in for a raincheck into its functions as to the origin of alleged manslaughters as well as rumoured deaths in custody etc.

Also the incident calls for an introspection into how the Armed Forces are carrying out its leadership roles and duties. It needs to be known that they are dealing with human lives whether it is the subordinates or the hoi polloi and therfore needs to treat humans as humans and not some source of a sena medal or say some material rewards.

Leadership that shows no value to human lives is no leadership at all.