Lt Col Pratap Singh on Park Street. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

The mood among officers at the army headquarters in New Delhi keeping track of the Park Street punch-up was contrite but combative. The officers were willing to concede that if Major Chandra Pratap Singh and Captain Mahesh were at fault, they deserve to be punished. But the army was annoyed that Calcutta Police did not go by the book while taking into custody an army officer. The Military Police should have been informed and the Eastern Command and his commanding officer kept in the loop.

Within the army, the more serious offence — if proved — is the “attack” mounted on Park Street police station by Lt Col Pratap Singh to “free” his junior officers. “Somebody is going to go for a long jump,” one source said, meaning serious action is being contemplated. “We are also looking into whether the police over-reacted. Maybe the matter could have been sorted out in the hotel itself.”

The soldiers and officers were from the 3rd Battalion of the Madras Regiment, a distinguished infantry unit, that moved to the garrison in Salt Lake six months back after hardship tenures manning the central sector of Siachen Glacier, followed by counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir. Major Chandra Pratap Singh, having been recently promoted, was attending a New Year’s Eve bash at a peace posting after several hardship tenures. His senior, Lt Col Pratap Singh, is a distinguished officer. He sports the army chief’s citation on his breast pocket and has two bars on his medal-ribbons.

“This is a very unfortunate incident. A court of inquiry has been initiated and necessary action would follow,” said major general Deepak Raj, GoC Bengal Area. “But let us not blow this incident out of proportion,” observed Arun Roye, former GoC Bengal Area.

The worst recent example of army brutality behind civilian lines was in January 2005 when nine soldiers pushed five passengers off a speeding train in Uttar Pradesh. Closer home, on March 12, 2006, a jawan and an officer had assaulted Calcutta airport employees after a row over parking. In July 1995, a group of 50 army personnel had gone on the rampage between Barrackpore railway station and Chiria More, after two officers were accused of eve-teasing.