NEW DELHI, 11 October 2003 — The military, stung by the alleged rape of a teenage student by four presidential guards, was planning yesterday a revamp of the elite unit that has protected the country’s first citizen for 53 years.
Police have arrested four soldiers of the Presidential Body Guard (PBG) on charges of raping the girl Monday in a park two kilometers from the official home of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
Kalam and his presidential palace reacted strongly to the alleged assault, which occurred while Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama was addressing his followers in the same Buddha Jayanti Park.
“The president has expressed serious concern over the incident and has asked for tough measures to be taken to ensure that such incidents do not recur.
“What has been committed is a terrible crime and the guilty shall be given appropriate punishment,” the palace said, adding that Kalam, the supreme commander of the Indian armed forces, has called for a military probe. The Defense Ministry was stunned by the allegations involving the ceremonial unit, raised in 1773 by then English Viceroy Warren Hastings when India was a British colony.
“The mood is very bad. The sword can fall on many,” a source said of reports that the army was planning a revamp of the lance-carrying PBG which has been protecting presidents since the country became a republic in 1950.
