Jawans bail out 3 militants, disciplinary action in the offing

Shillong, Dec 3 (UNI) Disciplinary action against six army jawans of the Assam regiment is in the offing for bailing out three arrested people, suspected to be militants of the Manipur-based People's Liberation Army (PLA), official sources said today.

Last month six jawans -- Havildar Panchabir Rai, Havildar Amuthoi Singh, Sepoy Rajendra Magar, Sepoy Bijen Singh, Sepoy Tuingam and Sepoy Kennedy -- had gone to bail out the three militants without prior permission from their higher-ups in the regiment, official sources on condition on anonymity told UNI here.

Meanwhile, sensing disciplinary actions, five of the six jawans, today approached the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate to withdraw their earlier bail application in which the same court had granted bail to the three arrested militants.

The Court had accepted their application to withdraw their bail after paying a surety of Rs 10,000.

The five jawans, who appeared before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate told reporters that their own colleague, Sepoy Kennedy had misled them to bail out the three arrested militants. ''He (Sepoy Kennedy) told us a different story about them (arrested militants),'' said one of the sepoys.

Sources said all the jawans are likely to face charges of ''willful disobedience of lawful command'' and ''acts prejudicial to good order and discipline'' under various provisions of the Army Act.

However, authorities in the Assam Regiment refused to comment on the issue. ''I am not aware of such incident. If they have done it, they may have done it at their own personal capacity,'' said the adjutant of the regiment.

Meghalaya police had arrested three - Jhokchan Ratan Singh, Sushil Ningthoujam and Alam Naba Chandra Singh - on October 14 from a hotel here, while planning to exfiltrate to Bangladesh through the international border at Dawki in Jaintia Hills district.

UNI