Don't feign disability to get out of postings, says Indian Army chief Bipin Rawat

Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Thursday gave a stern warning to certain section of soldiers, who he said were "feigning disabilities to avoid operational deployment" and added that they will soon be receiving "unpleasant instructions" from the Army headquarters.

Rawat was in Pune to attend an event organised for disabled soldiers as part of its initiative wherein 2018 has been declared as the 'year of the disabled soldiers in the line of duty'. To that end, General Rawat met around 600 soldiers — including some disabled — from the Southern command, South-Western and Central Command, at a gathering and lauded their efforts.

Addressing the gathering, Rawat said, "I would like to assure all the disabled soldiers that the Indian Army will provide all possible help. If any soldier is facing any problem, he can write to his unit and he will get an answer in one month."

However, he issued a warning to some and said, "Soldiers are expected to be mentally and physically fit. But I have seen some soldiers and officers who are suffering from high blood pressure, hypertension or diabetes and they call themselves disabled and avoid deployment at difficult operational posts. It shows that they are weak both mentally and physically." He added, "Looking at the real disabled soldiers, such section of weak soldiers should feel ashamed of themselves. Such soldiers will be getting some 'unpleasant instructions' from Army headquarter in coming days."