New Delhi: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Friday confirmed that the punishment of dismissal has been awarded to a Major General from service in connection with a sexual harassment case.
“Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has confirmed the sentence awarded to the officer. The decision of the Chief of Army Staff was intimated to the Major General by the 2 Corps Commander Lt Gen MJS Kahlon today in Ambala,” Army officials told ANI. As per the orders issued in this regard, the confirmation of the sentence was signed by the Army Chief in July itself.
An Army General Court Martial (GCM) on December 23 last year had recommended dismissal of the Major General from service in a more than two-year-old sexual harassment.
Reacting on the decision of the Army Chief, the Major General’s lawyer Anand Kumar said, “The confirmation of the sentence and its promulgation is illegal as the Major General has not been supplied a copy of court-martial proceedings till date to enable him to file a pre-confirmation petition despite the orders passed by AFT Delhi.”
“His Review Application is also pending and despite that, the sentence has been confirmed by General Rawat who was also made aware of the order of AFT through a legal notice sent by us. We will challenge this confirmation order,” he added.
The court-martial had recommended the dismissal of the officer from service after he was charged under section 354A of the IPC and Army Act 45 which is related to unbecoming conduct of officers in the force.
As per the Army rules, the recommendation of the GCM is sent to higher authorities for confirmation.
The higher authority has the powers to even change the sentence.
The Major General was posted in the Northeast when the alleged incident took place in late 2016 and was attached to Chandimandir under Army’s Western Command for the disciplinary proceedings.
The officer had denied the charges against him levelled by the Captain-rank lady officer.
In a plea filed before the Armed Forces Tribunal, the officer had claimed that he was a victim of factionalism within the Army which had allegedly arisen due to the appointment of Army Chief in that year.
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In the recent past some indisciplined issue were raised from some POBR, by posting videos in social media etc. For instances the buddy issues in the Army. This is an ugly practice and this is since independence. Brit ruled us in slavery and some or other way same tune is now also going on. Early eras most personnel who joined the army were not so educated. Now situation changed. Most are graduates and entry in to officer cadre are also graduates. In this juncture issues will arise. Due to displeasure of such issues the authorities are taking revenge in one or other way. For instance a lot of reforms were brought out in CSD cateen. Issues must be for the welfare of veteran and not for distrubances at their last lap of life. One ECHS are there and that also for distrubances only. Like wise now issue on disability pension. All service personnel are enrolling the armed forces with medical category AYE only. While on service circle if one became low medical category, that is purely due to service condition, one or another way. So categorizing the disability is purely unfair. So the authotities concerned must look into this issue. Changes are making by men in civies and this will effect very badly to the morel of service personnels. This type of indecent moves will cost much more coming days.
The policy making agencies r non mil personal and they really don’t know the faults. The suggestions should be taken fm the bottom of the organization.
Without commenting on the merits of this particular case, the armed forces must continue to set a fine example in the matter of upholding the dignity and safety of female employees. As more women join the armed forces, at some stage in combat roles as well, this issue will become increasingly important. 2. If one may extend this principle further, soldiers posted in disturbed areas should be sensitised to the need to respect the human rights of women in the civilian population. Since clashing narratives often emerge, in all such cases, the army itself could deal with improper conduct through court martial proceedings.