Hyderabad: The Army’s Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Sub Area (TASA) headquarters issued a circular banning the ‘buddy’ (sahayak) system to spouses of officers who are posted elsewhere. This order comes after a complaint filed by the wife of a Lieutenant Colonel against an Army Jawan (buddy) for allegedly misbehaving with her.
Despite being a non-operational day for the TASA headquarters, the circular was issued a day after the complainant was reported.
The circular stated that from July 29 onwards no buddy should report to the quarters. If found on the premises, the Millitary Police will register a case against that jawan and he will be sent back to his unit. TASA has insisted that spouses sign the circular to indicate they have received it.
The development follows a complaint filed with the Raksha Mantri’s office by the wife of a Lt. Colonel residing in the officers’ quarters in Secunderabad who alleged that a sahayak working at a Colonel’s house passed lewd comments against her and misbehaved.
There have been several demands to abolish the sahayak system which has been in existence since the British era. In 2017, this practice received public attention when a sahayak disclosed that he had been made to polish an officer’s wife’s shoes, and do domestic work.
In many cases though the sahayak is officially posted along with officers carrying out operations, the buddy is illegally re-posted with the family as a helper. But on record the jawan is showed that he is attached to the officer.
An expert on defence history, Mr Mohan Guruswamy, says that the buddy system was “primarily meant for officers posted in insurgency areas. The sahayak is attached to the officers carrying out operations; the job of the buddy is to get him ready for work, besides other domestic work in the unit the officer is posted in.
The sahayak is not meant to serve the family. This is misuse of power. If found violating, the officer and the jawan should be taken to task.”
