Srinagar, July 24
A jawan of 8 Bihar Regiment deployed in Gurez, a border location in Baramula district of Kashmir, shot dead his officer yesterday night.
Mohan Munda turned himself in before the Army authorities after killing Major P. Alexander. The officer died on the spot. An Army spokesperson said they were not clear as to what led Munda to kill his officer and had ordered a court of inquiry to ascertain the reasons.
The
fragging occurred at a post around 8 pm yesterday and the accused surrendered without resistance.
It is probably the third such incident, including two in the last year, in this border state where a soldier turned his gun on his superiors. In both cases, the accused jawans were awarded death penalty by General Court Martials (GCM).
Jawan K.C. Behra shot dead Lt Col Saket Saxena on October 31 last year in Kashmir. Both were attached with Rashtriya Rifles, a special wing of the Army raised to counter insurgency. Behra was awarded death sentence by a GCM in February this year. In the same month last year, a 20-year-old soldier, Satyam Kumar, of Signal Regiment had fired at his
colleagues in Udhampur in Jammu division, killing Havildar Padmarajan and injuring sepoy Balwant Singh. He was also awarded death sentence.
The Army has commissioned a study by experts from different fields, including medical, to
deal with growing cases of fragging or suicide, and it had recommended liberal system of leave for its personnel and
putting in practice stress-buster practices like yoga.
The Army had also reportedly decided to recruit over 400 psychiatrists to reach out to men suffering from mental stress and provide them medical aid.
