Army denies assault on civilian at garrison

​Hyderabad The Army has refuted the allegation of assault levelled by a 25-year-old man against its sentry posted at the Mehdipatnam Military Garrison here on July 5.

The Army on Monday issued a clarification terming the complaint lodged by one Abdul Nabi as "false and baseless". "The news reported in a sections of the media is one-sided and factually incorrect. The Army refutes all the allegations made by Abdul Nabi and has already contacted the local officials and senior citizens to ensure non-occurrence of such unpleasant incidents," a Defence statement said.

Nabi is a resident of Siddiqui Nagar located inside the garrison. According to the Army, Nabi, along with three women, arrived at Basantar gate of the Military Garrison in a civil car on July 5 when the sentry posted there asked them to display their security passes, which is mandatory.

"However, except Nabi, none of the occupants was carrying the passes," it stated. The Army said that Nabi was requested to make an entry in the register for civilians entering the garrison without passes, but he refused and started abusing and threatening the troops of dire consequences.

"On being requested to follow the procedure, Nabi in a highly agitated state pushed the sentry on duty who in the self-defence restrained Nabi and prevented him from causing any harm," as per the release. According to Army, Nabi and local residents gathered at the spot later in evening and shouted "anti-national, anti-government and anti-Army slogans".

In the wake of the alleged incident, Nabi had lodged a complaint with the Humayun Nagar police station. The Commander of Mehdipatnam Military Garrison interacted with the MLA of Nampally constituency, senior police officials and representatives of Siddique Nagar Civilian Association and apprised them of the prevailing security situation which mandates civilian access control and regulating traffic entering the garrison, the statement added.