lcafanboy
Senior Member
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2013
- Messages
- 5,802
- Likes
- 37,220
Desperate Haryanvi men turn 'fake Sikhs' to join Army
Ajay Sura| TNN | Updated: May 26, 2017, 10.17 AM IST
HIGHLIGHTS
CHANDIGARH: When Shiv (name changed), a resident of Kaithal in Haryana, cleared all tests and was selected to join the Indian Army's Sikh regiment in February 2016, instructors at the training centre felt that something was not right. Not only did he have a Hindu name, he couldn't speak even a few lines of Punjabi. When exposed, Shiv candidly admitted that he forged documents to show himself as a Sikh to join the Army.
This is just one of 51 FIRs registered against young men from Haryana in the past two years who have tried to pass themselves off as Jatt Sikhs so that they can join the Army's Sikh regiment. It is also a reflection of the sheer desperation among youth in Haryana who see the Army as the only hope for them to earn a decent living.
In most cases, the men were selected for the forces and were caught at the time of training at the Sikh regimental centres. The FIRs studied by TOI show that some of the aspirants had forged documents by adding the word 'Sikh' to their caste certificates. In other cases, they completed the baptism ritual in Sikhism - taking Amrit - at a gurdwara. However, they had completed the ritual after registering themselves for the Army selection process.
The Indian Army has a number of community-specific regiments as cultural homogeneity has been observed to be a force multiplier during battles. It is a tradition followed since the British era.
Simarjeet (name changed) could not articulate certain basic tenets of Sikhism when quizzed by officials at the Sikh regiment centre and later confessed that he had taken Amrit in a gurdwara after he was selected for the Army under the Sikh quota. Both Shiv and Simarjeet have been terminated from the Army and now face criminal cases.
Terming it a dangerous trend, Col Vikram Singh Sankhla, director of the recruiting office at Ambala Cantonment, told TOI that it is difficult to identify such candidates during the selection process unless there is an apparent error in documentation. "Recently, we registered a case against four youths from Kaithal after they were sacked from the Sikh regiment centre," Sankhla said. "We find such cases in almost every recruitment process."
Explaining the modus operandi, Balwant Rai, ASI and investigating officer, said, "A quick conversion to Sikhism is the most common modus operandi. They are also issued a certificate by the priest. We would not have been able to take action in many cases if the baptism had been done before registering for recruitment. But we found that a majority of those caught using forged minority quota documents, had undergone baptism after completing the selection process."
Previously, 47 boys from Hisar, Jind, Fatehabad and Sirsa were booked in December 2015 on a complaint of Col R Ranjan for forging documents to join the Army. 30 of them had even joined the Sikh regiment's training centre.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...e-sikhs-to-join-army/articleshow/58849022.cms
Ajay Sura| TNN | Updated: May 26, 2017, 10.17 AM IST
HIGHLIGHTS
- Candidates use forged documents to show their Sikh identity to join the Army
- The youths from Haryana see the Army as the only hope for them to earn a decent living
CHANDIGARH: When Shiv (name changed), a resident of Kaithal in Haryana, cleared all tests and was selected to join the Indian Army's Sikh regiment in February 2016, instructors at the training centre felt that something was not right. Not only did he have a Hindu name, he couldn't speak even a few lines of Punjabi. When exposed, Shiv candidly admitted that he forged documents to show himself as a Sikh to join the Army.
This is just one of 51 FIRs registered against young men from Haryana in the past two years who have tried to pass themselves off as Jatt Sikhs so that they can join the Army's Sikh regiment. It is also a reflection of the sheer desperation among youth in Haryana who see the Army as the only hope for them to earn a decent living.
In most cases, the men were selected for the forces and were caught at the time of training at the Sikh regimental centres. The FIRs studied by TOI show that some of the aspirants had forged documents by adding the word 'Sikh' to their caste certificates. In other cases, they completed the baptism ritual in Sikhism - taking Amrit - at a gurdwara. However, they had completed the ritual after registering themselves for the Army selection process.
The Indian Army has a number of community-specific regiments as cultural homogeneity has been observed to be a force multiplier during battles. It is a tradition followed since the British era.
Simarjeet (name changed) could not articulate certain basic tenets of Sikhism when quizzed by officials at the Sikh regiment centre and later confessed that he had taken Amrit in a gurdwara after he was selected for the Army under the Sikh quota. Both Shiv and Simarjeet have been terminated from the Army and now face criminal cases.
Terming it a dangerous trend, Col Vikram Singh Sankhla, director of the recruiting office at Ambala Cantonment, told TOI that it is difficult to identify such candidates during the selection process unless there is an apparent error in documentation. "Recently, we registered a case against four youths from Kaithal after they were sacked from the Sikh regiment centre," Sankhla said. "We find such cases in almost every recruitment process."
Explaining the modus operandi, Balwant Rai, ASI and investigating officer, said, "A quick conversion to Sikhism is the most common modus operandi. They are also issued a certificate by the priest. We would not have been able to take action in many cases if the baptism had been done before registering for recruitment. But we found that a majority of those caught using forged minority quota documents, had undergone baptism after completing the selection process."
Previously, 47 boys from Hisar, Jind, Fatehabad and Sirsa were booked in December 2015 on a complaint of Col R Ranjan for forging documents to join the Army. 30 of them had even joined the Sikh regiment's training centre.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...e-sikhs-to-join-army/articleshow/58849022.cms
