Indian Armed Forces have utmost respect for human rights laws: Bipin Rawat

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has said that Indian Armed Forces have utmost respect for human rights laws and they not only ensured the protection of human rights of the people of the country, but also of its adversaries. Gen Rawat said, Indian armed forces are highly disciplined and extremely secular and driving ethos for them are “Insaniyat” (humanity) and “Sharafat” (decency).

He was addressing the interns and senior officers of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the topic of "Preserving Human Rights in Times of War and Prisoners of War" in New Delhi. Noting that counter-terrorism and anti-insurgency operations has become



very challenging and difficult, the Army chief said the armed forces took care to identify and target only terrorists and insurgents without causing any collateral damage to innocent people.

Gen Rawat said, a court of inquiry, with all records being maintained, is held after every operation, in line with provisions of human rights laws. He said, another new initiative taken in October this year was to begin recruiting women jawans in the Corps of Military Police, who would be deployed for crowd control and frisking of women protestors in militancy-hit areas like Kashmir and the northeast.