Father seeks freedom for confined jawan

Ranchi, Jan. 30: It was a happy day for Rama Kant Thakur, 65, when his son, Krishna Kumar Thakur, 27, got selected as a CRPF jawan on February 2003.

However, now the elderly father is running from pillar to post to get his son released from what the family has called an “illegal detention”.

Thakur hailing from Ratanpur village in Darbhanga (Bihar) alleges that officers of 133 Battalion have been torturing his son and has been keeping him in “wrongful confinement” for the past few days.

For the past six years Khrishna first served in Jammu and Kashmir and then was transferred to Bundu in Jharkhand.

“The beating and bad behaviour began when my son asked for a leave to see his ailing wife and three-year-old son. He was detained from the night of January 18 and was beaten up by officers like a criminal. Now, they (officers) are trying to suspend and terminate my son’s services by declaring him insane and indisciplined,” Thakur told The Telegraph.

Krishna’s brother, Radhe Shyam Thakur, is also in the Indian Air Force. The elder brother has knocked the doors of the high court to receive a release certificate from the CRPF officers for the time being.

CRPF lawyer Faizur Rahman and Thakur’s lawyer Arshad Hussain refused to comment on the matter calling the matter sub-judice. “The case is a criminal writ, but it has been treated as habeas corpus,” said one. The case has been registered as WP (Cr.) 16/2009.

Commandant of the 133 Battalion R.K. Sharma, however, has denied allegation and accused the jawan of stealing and of being indisciplined.

He said that the young man was granted 75 days leave last year and was given “out passes” at least 12 times. Though he joined duty on December 26, 2008, after a five-day leave, he had apparently applied for a fresh leave on January 19 — which was also allowed.

Krishna joined the CRPF in 2003 and joined the 133 Battalion months ago from the 116 Battalion.

His confidential report suggests that he was put in line jail for 28 days after being found “unreliable” and his conduct “below average”.

He was allegedly also caught red-handed stealing wood sheets from an observation tower in the CRPF camp.

“He was overpowered by jawans when he attempted to lift firearms to shoot his seniors. He was referred to the Central Institute of Psychiatry by doctors for proper treatment after his behaviour was found aggressive,” Sharma added.

Source : The Telegraph