OTA cadet commits suicide, family alleges ragging *Arun Lakshman | Kochi the pioneer * http://dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=KOCHI&file_name=KOCHI2%2Etxt&counter_img=2 * * The brother of the Officers Training Academy cadet, who committed suicide in this elite school on November 5, has alleged it was ragging by his seniors that led Cadet Azad P Nair to the extreme step.
Azad's brother Soumendu has already written to Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan and Defence Minister AK Antony requesting an inquiry into the suicide. Azad who hails from a lower middle class family in Iritty in Kannur district had cleared all physical hurdles and joined the OTA, his parents pinned a lot of hope and aspiration on the potential officer. According to his brother, Azad had to face hardships, including third-degree torture and sexual harassment from his seniors. "Even the officers in the academy are in connivance with the seniors who behave and act like hooligans," said a crestfallen Soumendu. Cadet Azad used to call his family, particularly his brother, complaining about the alleged horrors he was subjected to by his seniors. A few days before his suicide, Azad even expressed his wish to quite the elite academy as the situation was becoming unbearable for him. Otherwise, Azad told his brother, he would turn insane. Azad's father, ex-servicemen Padmanabhan Nair, advised him to "hold on" and that he would be in Chennai soon to meet his son. Nair reached the OTA in the morning on November 5, but by then it was too late. His brother, in his complaint, mentions that while his father arrived at the academy by 10 am, there was no sign of Azad and after waiting for more than two hours at the academy a Colonel told him that his son had committed suicide. Worse, he was shown the hanging corpse of his son. Azad's relatives allege that Padmanabhan Nair was made to sign a blank white paper and this they believes is for someone to save their skins as the OTA during the intake itself get three bonds signed from the family, self and a gazetted officer. Commander of the Officers Training Academy, Major General Sami was not available for comments as he was out of station. The family has not obtained the postmortem report and as they have apprehensions on his death the body was buried instead of the traditional cremation as they expect that the body may be exhumed if needed further. Soumendu argues that his brother could not have committed suicide and to substantiate his claim he said that if Azad could clear the tough Service Selection Board interview and that too from Alahabad which is considered the toughest of the boards there was no reason to believe that he was mentally not tough and would commit suicide on trivial reasons. The family is also sore that no officers from the OTA accompanied the body and only two orderlies from academy accompanied the body. The District Artillery Centre in Kannur however had laid a wreath on the body on behalf of the army. A Lieutenant Colony of the Army who was a product of the OTA told The Pioneer, "The ragging at the academy is nothing when compared to what we have suffered some 15 years before. Moreover, these are all part of the curriculum to make these cadets into gentlemen officers." Soumendu differs and while talking to The Pioneer he said, "The ragging here is extreme and tough and my brother told me that they were not allowed to sleep for several nights together and had to roll over on one's own vomit." Another cadet of Azad's batch Digvijay Singh has also left the academy. According to Digvijay, "Azad was thrown in the pool even after he said that he does not know swimming and was kept there for quite a long period." The statistics shows that Indian army is woefully shot of officers and if youth who voluntary opts for a tough and gruelling officer life have to pay for their lives for no reason or mistake then there is something terribly wrong with the establishment. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality." - Dr BR Ambedkar ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ greenyouth mailinglist is the activist support mailinglist for kerala run by Global Alternate Information Applications (GAIA) To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
