Border Security Force (BSF) jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav who posted a complaint about “substandard food” on social media has been dismissed from service. The BSF sacked the constable after a three-month long probe against him. A court of inquiry against him found that he had damaged the “image of the BSF” by uploading a video against the forces.
BSF court found him guilty on certain charges of indiscipline. He has been dismissed from service following the provisions of BSF act and Rule. However, he has the option to appeal against the verdict within three months.
He had posted a video on his Facebook page on January 9 this year complaining about the “poor quality of food” provided to the troopers. In a series of videos, Yadav shared the difficulties of life at the border.
“From morning to evening we work, standing in all weather conditions. No matter the rain, no matter the snow, in all conditions we do our duty, but neither the media nor any minister pay heed to our problems,” he said. He added how jawans are not being fed properly because of the corruption at top levels.
Taking serious note of the video, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju had said that a high-level inquiry has been ordered into the videos. “Taken serious note of a BSF Jawan video. But during my regular visit to border posts, I find high level of satisfactions amongst the jawans. Welfare of our Security Forces guarding the borders & other difficult areas are absolute priority. Any anomaly will be dealt with firmly,” Rijiju had tweeted.
Reacting to his video, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat had said that such grievances should not be aired through a proper channel. “Whoever has any problem, come to me directly,” he said adding that there are suggestions and grievance boxes in the Army headquarters and commands that can be used to make such complaints. “You can post your grievances there, not on social media,” he had said.
After the BSF jawan’s video, there have been more videos of personnel airing their grievances on pay and conditions.
