Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 7

In a telling example of the Army’s system of imparting justice, a Lieutenant Colonel facing corruption charges not only had to attend his court martial proceedings while lying on a bed inside the court room because he was sick, but he also had to face trial without being duly represented by a legal counsel.The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has now set aside the general court martial (GCM) that cashiered the officer, Lieut Col Varinder Singh, and awarded him one-year rigorous imprisonment besides imposing a fine of Rs 1 lakh. Giving a word of caution to the Army authorities, the AFT has ordered a retrial, for which the officer is to be reinstated in service.“Having extensively gone through the GCM proceedings, we find that the petitioner was without the services of a legal counsel and in such a physical state medically deemed to be ‘sick in quarters’ implying bed rest and yet he was asked to attend trial lying down in a bed,” the Bench said in orders passed a few days ago.The Bench said while the Army availed services of a legal practioner, the same was not made available to the accused for most part of the trial. “This in our opinion degraded the quality of fairness to the petitioner to a degree causing miscarriage of justice. Under the circumstances, such a trial by the GCM cannot be considered a fair trial as it has violated the principals of natural justice,” the Bench ruled.