Wrestler Babita Phogat on Wednesday came out in strong support of BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav who had posted a video online complaining about poor quality food being served to the troops on icy heights along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir and has been subsequently dismissed on charge of indiscipline.
Tej Bahadur's wife Sharmila had posted an emotional message on social media, where she questioned the reasons behind her husband's removal. "He has shot the video so that the country's soldier could be benefited and the people could see what food they eat," said Sharmila. "Now that he has been dismissed, will any mother send their child to the army? What crime did he commit? Despite serving the country for 20 years, he got dismissed. What the government has done is very wrong."
Here's Sharmila's video message:
Showing solidarity to Tej Bahadur and his wife, Babita questioned the government's hypocrisy. "On the one hand we introduce Veer App, while on the other hand we take away a soldier's job because he showed us the truth," wrote Babita.
Here's her post:
A spokesman for the BSF said constable Yadav was "was found guilty of all the charges and awarded dismissal from service." The order comes five months after he posted the video on Facebook, triggering public outcry over the working conditions of troops guarding the country's frontiers.
The BSF had conducted a Summary Security Force Court (SSFC) where Yadav was tried on two counts of making "false allegations" on social media regarding the quality of food, and carrying two mobile phones while on operational duty, the spokesman said.
He said making "false allegations" about the quality of food was an act "prejudicial to good order and discipline" of the force, and that he did not adhere to formal grievance redressal mechanism available.
The spokesman alleged that constable Yadav did not obey a general order of the force and carried two mobile phones while on operational duty which was against the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). Yadav also posted photographs in uniform on social media in contravention of instructions, he said.
(Inputs from PTI)
