Abused, Jalandhar-born soldier in UK entitled to apply for relief

Tuesday, 17/12/2013

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20131217/punjab.htm#26

A Jalandhar-born soldier forced out of the British army is entitled to apply for compensation following allegations that he was the victim of racist bullying that prompted two suicide attempts and turned him into an alcoholic.

But the UK Ministry of Defence says whether Manjit Singh Ghuman receives any compensation will depend on proof emerging from the outcome of investigations currently being carried out by police and the Service Complaints Commissioner.

Friendless, isolated and with very little money —other than the few pounds he is sent every month by his brother in New Zealand — Ghuman is wandering about in the city of Leicester where he has been hospitalised ever since he left the army last August.

Ghuman comes from a family with a proud tradition of professional soldiering. His grandfather served with British forces in the World War-II and his father, Amrik Singh, is a subedar in the Indian army, serving somewhere along the China border. The family home is currently in Model Town, Kapurthala.

Twentytwo-year-old Ghuman first came to the UK on a student visa in 2009. The following year, after he was told that as a Commonwealth national he was entitled to serve in the British armed forces, he applied and was accepted into the British army.

After 18 months training in North Yorkshire, Ghuman was posted with the 5 Rifles operating base in Paderborn, Germany, where he says his torment started. Three soldiers slapped him about and pushed him against the walls of his room. Others, he claims, urinated on his bed, stole his duvet and ransacked his room. To make matters worse, they abused him by calling him ‘Taliban’, ‘terrorist’ and ‘suicide bomber.’

Despite repeated pleas to senior officers who promised to look into his complaints, Ghuman told The Tribune, nothing changed. One officer suggested he return home to India, and another, after his first suicide attempt last March, had him referred to a psychiatric hospital. Last June, Ghuman was sent back to hospital after a breakdown linked to alcohol related stress and he was back in hospital again last August after yet another attempt at suicide.

The Service Complaints Commissioner of the armed forces is supposed to be looking into Ghuman’s case, but a spokeswoman for the commissioner said they never comment on individual cases. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence in London said, “We can be clear that the Armed Forces have zero tolerance approach to all forms of abuse, bullying, and discrimination. All allegations will be thoroughly investigated, either by the civil or military police and, where appropriate, action will be taken.”

Racial attack victim

Manjit Singh Ghuman has alleged that racist bullying prompted him to attempt suicide twice and turned him into an alcoholic

After 18 months training, Ghuman was posted with the 5 Rifles operating base in Paderborn, Germany

He says there, three soldiers slapped him and pushed him against the walls of his room

Others, he claims, urinated on his bed, stole his duvet and ransacked his room

Making matters worse, they abused him by calling him 'Taliban', 'terrorist' and 'suicide bomber'

Abused, Jalandhar-born soldier in UK entitled to apply for relief