Whistleblower Indian soldier ‘found dead’ in his barracks

Lance Naik Roy Mathew had gone missing after a video in which he criticised British-era orderly system in Indian Army

An Indian Army soldier who accused officers of maltreatment was found dead in his barracks in Maharashtra.

The body of 33-year-old Lance Naik Roy Mathew was recovered on Thursday, Indian media reported.

Mathew had gone missing from his artillery centre on February 25 after a video in which he criticised the British-era ‘sahayak’ or orderly system in the Indian Army, went viral on the internet. In the video, he described how the officers used him for menial jobs and even taking care of their dogs.



According to family members of the deceased soldier, he often complained to his wife about the alleged ‘servitude' prevailing in the unit. Often junior level employees were forced to do domestic work at officer’s residences.

“He [Roy] called me in tears and said channels were playing clips of him.I want to know what happened to him,” ANI quoted Mathew’s wife Fini Roy as saying. “I don’t have wealth or political influence, there’s no one to help. I want to know what happened to my son,” said his father.

The distraught family of the whistleblower soldier, who served in the Indian Army for the past 13 years, has demanded justice in the case. “The CO (commanding officer) informed us that a body similar to that of Roy has been found and it was shifted to a hospital for post-mortem. Other than this we haven’t received any other information,” Roy’s brother John Mathew said.

The Indian Army, however, said Mathew had gone “AWOL (absent without official leave)” within 24 hours of the video being aired on February 24, according to the Times of India.

The development came in the wake of a spate of allegations of poor working conditions and harassment faced by Indian soldiers at the hands of their senior officers.



Last month, Border Security Force (BSF) officials posted videos on Facebook showing the horrible condition of the food he and his fellow troopers are served while on duty. “We get one paratha for breakfast in the morning and we have to eat it just with tea. There are times when we are forced to sleep on an empty stomach,” Tej Bahadur Yadav said in one of the four videos he posted on the social networking portal. Yadav accused senior officers of selling off various ingredients in the market, leaving such substandard food for soldiers.

Days after the expose videos had gone viral, a personnel of India’s Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) questioned the treatment meted out to the force. Addressing India’s premier Narendra Modi, constable Jeet Singh in a video said there was a huge difference between the treatment meted out to the personnel of the force and the Indian military.