CRPF put on the backfoot by barrage of videos on social media

While the Centre has banned internet and social media in the Kashmir Valley, the epidemic of social media posts by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans posted in Chhattisgarh and the rest of the country have put it in a quandary.

While the paramilitary force has sought to make an example of a few jawans, a disturbing number of social media posts are circulating, that indicate the churn within the ‘disciplined force’.

The day after the video recorded rant of CRPF jawan Pankaj Mishra against Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh got reported in the media, his mobile phone was confiscated and possibly a court of inquiry initiated to look into misconduct.

Mishra, who was stationed at Durgapur in West Bengal, had accused the Home Minister of inaction and allowing CRPF jawans to die in the killing fields of Chhattisgarh. The jawan, claimed his family members over the phone, was under severe emotional stress following reports that a cousin of his, also a jawan with the CRPF, had died at Sukma in the Maoist ambush of a CRPF Road Opening Party (ROP) earlier this week.

The cousin apparently sustained a bullet injury on his lower limb in another ambush in March this year, in which 12 CRPF jawans were killed. But soon after his discharge from the hospital, he was sent back to his unit instead of allowing him to go home on leave. Tragically, he was part of the ROP that was ambushed and was killed this week, complained family members.

The beleaguered CRPF in a ‘rejoinder’ sent to the editor of a Patna-based newspaper, which had also reported on the video, asserted that the jawan’s allegations were false, baseless and far from the truth. Without elaborating, the rejoinder then states that the jawan’s conduct was unbecoming of a disciplined force and most inappropriate.

“When the government and the force have always been concerned about the safety, welfare and morale of the men, such disconcerting statements are not keeping with the highest tradition of the force and tantamount to insulting the bravery of the men who are serving the nation with their entire dedication and professionalism, offering their ultimate sacrifice,” the rejoinder declares that disciplinary action would be initiated against Mishra, who hails from Bihar.

“When a jawan is recruited at the age of 16-17, he is overwhelmed with a feeling of patriotism but when he finally joins the force after training and is posted in insurgency-hit areas, he comes to know about the ground reality, which is altogether different from what he knows and what he is told during training,” the family member lamented.

But not just jawans but their family members too have started airing their opinion and grievances. The father of a jawan, who got killed in the Sukma attack, told local media: “Those who fired bullets were sons of the poor and those who received the bullets also happen to be sons of the poor. The government doesn’t want militancy to end. If Osama can be discovered by Obama, can’t they find out these militants? My son has been killed by his own countrymen. But I want to ask them what did they achieve after killing these men (CRPF jawans)?”

Jawans have been uploading various posts on the social media about suicide by jawans and their grievances. One such post read,“CRPF jawans survive on boiled potatoes for many days. Tough terrain; apprehension of blasts at every step. Jawans mostly remain out of mobile network area. Many police stations in Sukma and Bijapur receive ration through helicopters...”

Another video posted on Facebook shows Home Minister Rajnath Singh getting his shoelaces tied by a paramilitary jawan. There have been other appeals in which the Prime Minister has been urged to bring about ‘parity between officers and jawans’. Yet, another video doing the rounds on WhatsApp groups shows a jawan weeping copiously but through his howls and tears, asking for permission to kill the ‘enemy’ and have his revenge. “Enough is enough,” he can be heard saying.