Video of Indian Army cadets being beaten goes viral

While some argue the practice is a way of "toughening up" juniors, others questioned it

A recent video of Indian Army cadets being beaten with a stick has surfaced and subsequently sparked off a debate across social media.

The video shows cadets being beaten up with a stick and rope on their backside, with their heads placed between another official's legs. While some argued the practice was a way of "toughening up" juniors, others questioned the actions on grounds that ragging of any sort was intolerable.



“There has to be a zero tolerance policy towards any form of ragging. Maybe in some units, depending on the nature of those in charge, some informal ragging happens but it’s not something that can be legitimised. This can leave open a space for sadism disguised as ‘toughening up’ of cadets and raw recruits,” Air Vice Marshal (retired) Kamal Khanna, who served as the Deputy Commandant of the National Defence Academy (NDA), in Pune, in the early 90s, said.



Though military academies more often than not use such techniques to 'toughen' up new recruits, whether or not the practice is ethical is questionable.

“If a recruit does not perform well, then punching them is common. Some of these techniques are required in a military academy to toughen them up,” a lady flight lieutenant serving in the Indian Air Force, said on condition of anonymity.



When asked if these ‘mild’ forms of torture can pave way for more brutality, she said, "We have enough faith in our instructors. We know they won’t cross the line."

Agreeing with her colleague, another lady flight lieutenant said, “Some form of punishment is given and it is required. But beating somebody up is not acceptable. That can’t be allowed for sure and I have personally never witnessed it around me.”

The video was posted by Vaneet Gupta on Facebook.

This article originally appeared on The Quint