CHANDIGARH: A resident of Kaithal, Haryana, reportedly forged documents to portray himself as a Sikh to join the Indian Army. Shiv (name changed) cleared all his tests and was selected to join the Indian Army's Sikh regiment in February last year. However, instructors at the training centre found several things odd about him, mostly the fact that he couldn't speak even a few lines of Punjabi.
The man later, after being exposed, admitted to the forgery done to join the army. This case is just one in 51 FIRs registered against young men in the past two years. In a clear reflection of the desperation spread among youth who see the forces as the only mean to earn a decent living, the number of youngsters portraying themselves as Sikhs to get themselves recruited. In most cases, the men who were selected were only caught at the time of training at Sikh regimental centres. FIRs revealed that some of the recruits had forged documents by adding the word 'Sikh' to their caste certificates.
In several other cases, they completed the baptism ritual in Sikhism- taking Amrit, at a Gurdwara. They had, however, only completed the ritual after registering themselves for the Army selection process. The Indian Army has a number of community-specific regiments as cultural homogeneity has been observed to be a force multiplier during battles. The tradition is being followed since the British era.
Col Vikram Singh Sankhla, director of recruiting office at Ambala Cantonment, said it was difficult to identify such candidates during the selection process unless there is an apparent error in documentation.
