Ex-army veterans, former police officers spar over Odisha custodial assault case

While ex-army officers, including former minister General VK Singh (retired), have termed the incident as "shameful and horrendous", slamming the misbehaviour of Odisha police and demanding action against them, retired police officers have raised questions about the high-handed behaviour of the couple, who they claimed were "drunk".

The incident

According to the army officer’s fiancée, who runs a restaurant, after locking up for the night they had a run-in with a group of engineering students and somehow they escaped and went to file a complaint at the Bharatpur police station. “There was no one present at the police station except for a woman police constable at the reception. We asked her to register our complaint as there were several youths in a vehicle who might follow us, and police patrol would be helpful. However, instead of taking my complaint, she misbehaved with me,” she alleged.

The army officer’s fiancée alleged that she was thrashed and a police officer also flashed her, even as the Army officer was illegally locked up in a cell by the police.

Five Odisha police officials were suspended after the case sparked an uproar.

Army veterans hit out

Calling what happened to the fiancée of an Army officer in Bharatpur police station in Odisha as "shameful and horrendous", VK Singh in a tweet demanded that the Chief Minister should take immediate action against the police personnel. He also wanted action to be taken against those "who were trying to shield the criminals in police uniform".

Major Gaurav Arya (retd) too pitched in urging defence minister Rajnath Singh to take action. "The Odisha police misbehaved with an Army officer and that in itself is a crime. That they grossly mistreated, humiliated and tortured a lady also... there is no forgiveness for this," he tweeted.

Another retired major general Harsha Kakar (retd)lashed out at the Odisha Police for not defending truth and "protecting molesters, bribe takers, crooked police and abusers of women".

Further, Kakar pointed out that if the Army protests, the nation will come to a standstill. “Can this happen to organisations involved in ensuring security. Cheap tactics," he said in his tweet.

Ex-police officers defend Odisha police

Ex-senior police officers, however, are taking the side of the Odisha police and questioned the "uncouth behaviour" of the army officer and his fiancée, their alleged drink-driving, and indulging in a brawl with engineering students, and creating chaos at the police station.

Former CBI director M Nageswara Rao tweeted reacting to VK Singh's tweet, "But I would not chastise the Indian Army by asking, 'Is this the kind of discipline that the Indian Army imparts and inculcates in its officers?'. Because an individual's aberration does not represent an esteemed institution."

Nageswara Rao told Singh that it was not right to castigate the Odisha Police for the "drunken brawl and uncouth behaviour of an Army officer and his fiancée". He also alleged that the couple refused to go to the hospital for a medical examination and blood test.

Claiming that the Odisha police officers were not at fault, Rao said that it is not done that you (VK Singh), having been a Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and later a Central Minister, "jumped to conclusions and castigated Odisha Police for the drunken brawl and uncouth behaviour of an Army officer and his fiancée".

The former CBI chief began his tweet with, "In Bhubaneswar, an Army officer and his fiancée consume 10 pegs of liquor and drive a car in the mid of night around 2 am, indulge in a brawl with engineering students around 2-30 am, and then land up in Bharatpur Police Station creating ruckus inside the police station, so much so that the staff had to seek help of PCR."

Emphasising that the police force respects and honours the military, Nageswara Rao urged the Army to pull up the officer for his "conduct unbecoming of a soldier", and for "besmirching" the name of the Indian Army.

The Indian police respect the army and for defending the country from external enemies but the army needs to reciprocate and respect the police for protecting the country from internal enemies, he said.

Meanwhile, in an open letter, the Odisha Retired Police Officers Welfare Association, too made similar allegations and offered a suggestion that army officers should be given a course on "behaviour in public and public offices".