On Friday, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the government (the Ministry of Defence), the office of the Chief of Army Staff and the Maharashtra government in connection with the unnatural death of Gunner Roy Mathew and the misuse of the Sahayak system.
The notice was issued in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Welfare Association of Ex-Army Aviation Technicians based in Kerala. The petitioners are ex-army men Chandrasekhara Pillai and George PJ, who have sought an independent investigation into the death.
We have filed a PIL in the apex court because we sense foul play behind the death of Gunner Roy Mathew. And we hope justice is served soon.Petitioners
Senior Lawyer Prashant Bhushan appeared in the Supreme Court for the petitioners.
It is shocking that the army has allowed the Sahayak system till now. Also, the army and the local police cannot be trusted with the investigation into the mysterious death of Gunner Roy Mathew.Prashant Bhushan
Some of the points raised in the PIL are:
- “The photographs of the dead body and the abandoned barrack seen by Petitioner while accompanying the family are clear and cogent testimony to the theory of suicide being false and planted one.”
- “That the room where the body was found was bare and had no support from where deceased Mathew could have climbed to put the noose around his neck and then remove the support to end his life by hanging. It becomes clear from the photograph shown from the police record to the family and the Petitioner.”
- “The abandoned barrack was so near to the living barracks that a body could have never been lying there for more than four days; the smell, stench of decomposition would have attracted jawans living in barracks hardly 50 m away and animals like dogs certainly would have created an alarm long time back.”
- “No record showing a narration of who first noticed the body and reported it as is normally expected seems to be there and, in any case, has not been revealed to the family and Petitioner.”
- “Two army officers, Col JV Javade and Major Aniket, were at all times at the Police Station when statement of the family was being recorded and were openly directing the Investigating Officer in Marathi that the statement must implicate the scribe otherwise it is of no use, which Petitioner could overhear and understand.”
The petitioners have prayed for:
- “Abolition and discontinuation of the Sahayak/’buddy’ system as prevalent in the Indian Army.”
- “Investigation of the unnatural death of Gunner Roy Mathew in a fair and impartial manner, keeping in view the entirety of circumstances and materials under the supervision of the Court.”
- “The protection of family members of Gunner Roy Mathew from any threat, force or coercion under the direct supervision of the Hon’ble Court.”
On 2 March, Gunner Roy Mathew’s body was found in an abandoned barrack in Deolali Cantonment near Nashik. The Army alleged that Mathew committed suicide because of the sting operation carried out by The Quint’s reporter Poonam Agarwal, which exposed the misuse of the Sahayak system.
In the video, Mathew speaks about how rampantly jawans deployed as Sahayaks are made to do menial jobs, like walking dogs, dropping and picking up children of army officers from schools, and driving the wives of the officers to parlours.
Deolali police booked Agarwal on 27 March under Sections 3 and 7 of the Official Secrets Act, and for trespass, abetment to suicide and defamation.
Read the full copy of the PIL here.
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