Chauhan, a native of Dhule in Maharashtra, "inadvertently crossed over to the other side of the Line of Control" according to the Army statement.
A day after the Rashtriya Rifles (RR) soldier was captured by the Pakistan Army, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday that the government would make all possible efforts to get him back.
There appeared to be a serious flip flop on the issue, when sources in the security establishment initially called Chandu Babulal Chauhan, the soldier from RR, a deserter. However, later in the day, the Army Headquarters clarified its earlier stand and owned up to the fact that he was their missing soldier.
"One soldier from 37 RR with weapon has inadvertently crossed over to the other side of the Line of Control. Pakistan has been informed by the DGMO on the hotline. Such inadvertent crossing by Army and civilians are not unusual on either side. They are returned through existing mechanisms," said an official Army statement.
Earlier in the day, the Home Minister had met NSA Ajit Doval and said the government, through the Ministry of External Affairs, would take all possible efforts to get the soldier back. "The soldier had inadvertently crossed the border. All attempts are being made to secure his release," Singh told reporters.
Chauhan, a native of Dhule in Maharashtra, has been captured by the Pakistan Army. Army sources say that Chauhan was not a part of the Special Forces (SF) team that conducted a surgical strike on the Line of Control and add that he could have been part of a discreet mission or been kept on standby.
On Friday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis met Singh in Delhi, requesting the Home Minister to do all he could to bring back the missing soldier. "I don't know much about the incident but I do know that the soldier belongs to Maharashtra. I have spoken to the Home Minister and he has assured me that he will do the needful," said Fadnavis.
The protocol in the services to declare an officer or a soldier as a deserter is that first an internal inquiry has to be conducted with efforts to trace the missing man for a month.
"Over this month, a search operation is conducted within the unit and in all posts that the man has been associated with in the past," explained an army source. After a month, the army then informs the family of the soldier, the local unit police station and the police station at the home town of the soldier. When this due protocol is followed, the army then declares the person a deserter.
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