Date:20/06/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/06/20/stories/2003062000181003.htm

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Not permitted

Sir, — On June 3, about 20 armed soldiers with a light machine gun mounted on a truck descended on Bhairoba Bridge in Pune to stop corporation workers from constructing a public road. The use of armed soldiers to settle a civil dispute is not permitted by law and is unconstitutional. Encroachments, if any, in Cantonments have to be got vacated/evicted through legal procedure using the civil administration for eviction. Soldiers, armed/unarmed, should not be used for such purposes. To cap it, the soldiers were accompanied only by one Junior Commissioned Officer.

P.D. Sherlekar,
Pune