By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: While terming the death of a jawan as an isolated incident, Defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday refused to make any comment in Lok Sabha. However, the minister said Army has been told to work on how to appropriately address the grievances of soldiers.
Parrikar was responding to questions about the mysterious death of the soldier when he said that consultations are on over the Sahayak system.
“It (Naik’s case) was an isolated incident. Police is carrying out an independent probe….I don’t want to make any comment on it as it would be prejudicial to say anything at this stage,” he said.
Lance Naik Roy Mathew was found dead in a barrack in Maharashtra’s Devlali Cantonment on March 3.
“We are in consultation with all concerned and an appropriate mechanism would be worked out soon,” Parrikar said.
Minister of state for defence Subhash Bhamre, responding to the question earlier, said there were a few incidents of complaints by jawans, but it did not reflect the collective mood of the soldiers.
“There are various mechanism to address the grievances of jawans, that include regular holding of ‘Sainik Sammelan’ where the soldiers can raise their problems,” Bhamre informed the House.
Earlier this week, another soldier - Sep Sindhav Jogidas Lakhubhai of the Army Medical Corps - took to social media to attack the ‘batman’ or Sahayak system in the Army. Earlier, Lance Naik Yagya Pratap had posted a video over the same issue.
