Delhi High Court to hear plea seeking MHA report on poor food to BSF men

The Delhi High Court on Friday fixed January 16 for hearing a plea seeking a status report from the Ministry of Home Affairs following a BSF soldier's allegation that troopers were being served poor quality food along LoC.

A bench headed by Chief Justice G Rohini fixed the matter for January 16 as it did not assemble on Friday

The plea was filed by Puran Chand Arya, a former central government employee, in the wake of a video posted on Facebook by BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav, claiming corruption among officers and poor working conditions.

The public interest litigation (PIL) sought direction to the MHA to submit a status report with respect to all paramilitary forces in India over allegations of the BSF jawan in his video, which went viral on social media.

Citing the fundamental Right to Equality (Article 14) and Life (Article 21), the PIL filed through advocate Abhishek Kumar Choudhary highlights the allegations about insufficient and bad quality of food provided to jawans.

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It seeks action on the incident so that the morale of the force is not affected and also asks for clarity on ration procurement, food preparation and servings to various categories of officers.

On 9 January, Yadav posted a video on Facebook which showed a meal box comprising a watery soup-like dal, which he said had only turmeric and salt and a burnt chapatti.

He said this is what jawans were served at mealtime on duty. He said jawans often went to bed on an empty stomach. The Union home ministry has now taken cognisance of the video and ordered an immediate investigation into the matter.

The PIL has sought direction to depute higher officers to supervise cooking of proper healthy food and its distribution.