New Delhi:
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday refused to make any comment on the death of a jawan in Maharashtra recently but said Army has been told to work on how to appropriately address the grievances of soldiers.
Parrikar told the Lok Sabha that it would be a “prejudice” to make any comment on the death of Roy Mathew at Deolali cantonment in Maharashtra as police has registered a case and was conducting an investigation into the incident.
“It was an isolated incident. An independent police probe is going on. I don’t want to make any comment on it as it would be a prejudice to say anything at this stage,” he said during Question Hour.
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Mathew was found dead under mysterious circumstances in an abandoned barrack in Deolali Cantonment on March 3.
The jawan was figured in a sting operation by a news website where he criticised the ‘sahayak’ (orderly) system in which a jawan is expected to serve a commissioned officer.
Referring to the grievances of soldiers, Parrikar said the Army has been told to work out a system to address the complaints of the jawans appropriately.
“We are in consultation with all concerned and an appropriate mechanism would be worked out soon,” he said.
Earlier, Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre said there might be a few incidents of complaints by jawans but that do not reflect the collective mood of the soldiers.
Bhamre said there are various mechanism to address the grievances of jawans that include regular holding of ‘Sainik Sammelan’ where the soldiers can raise their problems.
