In this case, Gogoi was detained by the local police while trying to check into a hotel with an unnamed woman and later handed over to his unit. That year, the feisty Major had hit headlines after he used a local Kashmiri youth as a ‘human shield’ against stone pelting mobs atop the bonnet of his official Army jeep. It would be no exaggeration to suggest that Indian officials are torn between taking punitive action against a serving Army official and maintaining its record as an advocate of human rights — notwithstanding warts and all. The tendency to use the Army for managing internal civil war-like situations is not just avoidable, but dangerous in the long run. An Army man is trained to deal with the enemy on the border, not to quell internal dissension.

Source: dna April 02, 2019 01:30 UTC