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NEW DELHI (AFP) - The alleged gangrape of a student by four presidential guards in the heart of New Delhi has shocked India, with experts saying it pointed to a decay in the state of the military.
The elite Presidential Body Guard (PBG) soldiers have been charged with the gangrape on Monday of a 17-year-old girl in a popular joggers' park less than two kilometres (a mile) from the official residence of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
Soon after the news broke, Defence Minister George Fernandes ordered army chief General N.C. Vij to take the sternest of measures against the suspects if they were found guilty.
Vij on Thursday called the alleged assault a "blot" on the nation's defenders and pledged exemplary punishment if the accused were convicted, while the military ordered massive scrutiny of the horse-mounted PBG.
Press reports Friday said Kalam had ordered Fernandes to take stern disciplinary action against the four soldiers and to ensure such incidents did not recur.
New Delhi military garrison commander Major General Thomas Mathew visited the girl's home after the police arrested the soldiers Wednesday, and Kalam spoke roughly with his staff, ordering them "not to stray into any kind of offence," officials said.
The alleged assault coincided with Fernandes demanding a report on the suicide of a 15-year-old girl in northeastern Manipur state last month after she too was allegedly gangraped by soldiers.
The Indian army does not publish figures of sexual offences by the military but human rights groups point to Kashmir (news - web sites), alleging the army uses rape as an instrument to put down Islamic insurgency.
Military experts said the New Delhi incident pointed to growing lawlessness in the army, saying criminal assaults and human rights abuses were on the rise.
"The alleged involvement of members of the military's most show-cased unit, the PBG, is a sad pointer of the state of our military," said an expert from the defence ministry-funded Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.
"Due to the sensitivity of this case we cannot speak freely but we could see such incidents unless we take steps including drawing out the army from internal security duties and sensitising them to civilian life," he said.
"If the rot has reached the PBG, then it is time to act," said the expert, who declined to be identified.
The Indian military has been deployed to combat an Islamic insurgency in Kashmir where soldiers have gained notoriety as abusers of human rights while thousands of troops have been killed or wounded.
Thousands of troops are also battling tribal and separatist guerillas in six of India's seven northeastern states, where attacks such as the alleged rape by troops of the 15-year-old girl are often reported.
Former Air Force chief N.K. Sareen said such deployments were leading to the erosion of military traditions.
"The army is made to do dirty jobs of the police and the paramilitary, which is not only blunting its combat potential but has also eroded the military traditions of our forces," Sareen told AFP.
Once considered one of India's best professions, the army now faces a shortage of 15,000 officers as most educated young men prefer the private sector and shy away from the armed forces for fear of being dragged into internal security duties.
"Our society is not ready for the exposure to sexual orgasms and extra-marital affairs dished out by the media and it has an affect on soldiers whose IQ level is very basic," said Sareen.
"They see politicians raping and killing and the high and mighty getting away with everything.
"And our army comes from within society and not from external sources and so it is our society which is in decay."
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NEW DELHI (AFP) - The alleged gangrape of a student by four presidential guards in the heart of New Delhi has shocked India, with experts saying it pointed to a decay in the state of the military.
The elite Presidential Body Guard (PBG) soldiers have been charged with the gangrape on Monday of a 17-year-old girl in a popular joggers' park less than two kilometres (a mile) from the official residence of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
Soon after the news broke, Defence Minister George Fernandes ordered army chief General N.C. Vij to take the sternest of measures against the suspects if they were found guilty.
Vij on Thursday called the alleged assault a "blot" on the nation's defenders and pledged exemplary punishment if the accused were convicted, while the military ordered massive scrutiny of the horse-mounted PBG.
Press reports Friday said Kalam had ordered Fernandes to take stern disciplinary action against the four soldiers and to ensure such incidents did not recur.
New Delhi military garrison commander Major General Thomas Mathew visited the girl's home after the police arrested the soldiers Wednesday, and Kalam spoke roughly with his staff, ordering them "not to stray into any kind of offence," officials said.
The alleged assault coincided with Fernandes demanding a report on the suicide of a 15-year-old girl in northeastern Manipur state last month after she too was allegedly gangraped by soldiers.
The Indian army does not publish figures of sexual offences by the military but human rights groups point to Kashmir (news - web sites), alleging the army uses rape as an instrument to put down Islamic insurgency.
Military experts said the New Delhi incident pointed to growing lawlessness in the army, saying criminal assaults and human rights abuses were on the rise.
"The alleged involvement of members of the military's most show-cased unit, the PBG, is a sad pointer of the state of our military," said an expert from the defence ministry-funded Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.
"Due to the sensitivity of this case we cannot speak freely but we could see such incidents unless we take steps including drawing out the army from internal security duties and sensitising them to civilian life," he said.
"If the rot has reached the PBG, then it is time to act," said the expert, who declined to be identified.
The Indian military has been deployed to combat an Islamic insurgency in Kashmir where soldiers have gained notoriety as abusers of human rights while thousands of troops have been killed or wounded.
Thousands of troops are also battling tribal and separatist guerillas in six of India's seven northeastern states, where attacks such as the alleged rape by troops of the 15-year-old girl are often reported.
Former Air Force chief N.K. Sareen said such deployments were leading to the erosion of military traditions.
"The army is made to do dirty jobs of the police and the paramilitary, which is not only blunting its combat potential but has also eroded the military traditions of our forces," Sareen told AFP.
Once considered one of India's best professions, the army now faces a shortage of 15,000 officers as most educated young men prefer the private sector and shy away from the armed forces for fear of being dragged into internal security duties.
"Our society is not ready for the exposure to sexual orgasms and extra-marital affairs dished out by the media and it has an affect on soldiers whose IQ level is very basic," said Sareen.
"They see politicians raping and killing and the high and mighty getting away with everything.
"And our army comes from within society and not from external sources and so it is our society which is in decay."
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