It probably is the first time that the charges of sexual abuse are hurled on an instructor in a training camp by the male recruits. Normally, the female cadets in the forces were known to have alleged sexual harassment by their seniors and colleagues.

The allegation of a Bihar Military Police (BMP) constable that a Border Security Force (BSF) training instructor in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir tried to sodomise him, cast a serious doubt on the credibility of the elite border force. However, the officials from BSF have simply denied the allegation.

On June 20, a group of 136 constables from BMP left a BSF training centre at Udhampur, alleging that one of them was sexually harassed by a BSF havaldar.

Around 300 constables of Bihar Military Police had joined the training centre in Udhampur, J&K on June 1 for a 40 week long course.

It must be recalled that in September 2007, an army court of inquiry had found Gen AK Lal, who was commanding a division on Sino-Indian border in Ladakh, guilty of sexually harassing one of his subordinate women officer.

The BSF director general, AK Mitra referred the desertion of 136 BMP constables as an excuse to escape the rigour of training. “We have a strict training procedure and it’s not possible to dilute the rigour of training for any one. These boys (BMP constables) were unable to take training properly and they made it (the sexual abuse) an excuse to escape. Mitra also said that he has asked the Bihar government to appoint a senior official to probe the matter. Mitra was recently speaking in a flag-in ceremony of the BSF’s Kanchanjunga mountaineering expedition in New Delhi.

It is also learnt that the fleeing BMP constable hasn’t lodged a formal complaint in the police against the said instructor, which raises a doubt on the allegation levelled by these constables. As the inquiry has already been set by the BSF and the Bihar government, it is necessary that the outcome of the investigation is brought about soon, so that the real culprit could be punished whether it is the BSF instructor or the deserting constables.