Less than a week after a Border Security Force (BSF) jawan was granted relief by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he was being ‘punished’ by the BSF for not using the prefix ‘Shri’ (honourable) while referring to the PM, another incident has been reported of a CRPF jawan  being ‘cautioned’ for ‘dishonouring’ the President.

As per media reports, a CRPF jawan has been “cautioned” by his commanding officer (CO) for dishonouring the President, apparently referring to him being the supreme commander of the armed forces.

The incident took place at a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Jammu and Kashmir last month and senior officials of the force said the commanding officer (CO)’s order against his jawan has now been withdrawn.

As per the order issued by the office of the Srinagar-based 28th battalion CO, Subedar Major Pannalal Thakur was issued a caution note for allegedly addressing his colleague as Major.

Thakur, as per the order, was asked by the CO to summon Havildar Somvir Singh when he was on an inspection round in the recreation area for jawans in the battalion camp on February 7.

Thakur, the order said, complied and called Singh using the word Major, a common buddy word used by paramilitary forces jawans to address each other unofficially.

The CO, on the same day, issued a caution notice to Thakur warning if such an act is repeated he will have to face “severe disciplinary” proceedings.

However, a senior CRPF officer confirmed that the order has been withdrawn by the supervisory authorities of the paramilitary as it was not found “judicious” and there can be no relation between the uses of the particular word and the President of the country.

Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed the BSF to withdraw the punishment given to a soldier for forgetting to say ‘honourable’ or ‘Shri’ while referring to the Prime Minister.

The BSF rescinded its order of a seven-day pay cut for the soldier following a decision by PM Modi who had expressed his displeasure over the development.

The jawan of the 15th battalion of the force, Sanjeev Kumar, had uttered words like “Modi programme” while attending a morning roll call task on 21 February.

The CO of the unit, Commandant Anup Lal Bhagat, had issued an order handing down a “pay fine of 7 days”, which means a salary cut for a week, to the jawan for “showing disrespect towards the PM”.

Officials said the jawan referred to an event that he attended as “Modi programme” during the ‘zero parade’ or reporting assembly of briefing seniors about their official activities. They said the CO had found this reference by the jawan to the PM as improper and ordered an inquiry against him.

(With agency inputs)