AFT reinstates 2/Lt after 25 yrs

Shahira Naim

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, January 20

The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has reinstated Second Lieutenant Shatrughan Singh Chauhan after 25 years, restoring his seniority and promotions as well as imposing a fine of Rs 5 crore on the Ministry of Defence.

The matter, which came up before AFT’s Justice DP Singh and Air Marshal Anil Chopra yesterday, is about Mainpuri native Second Lt SS Chauhan, who had been serving in the Sixth Rajput Battalion when he was court martialled on November 4, 1991, which sacked him and awarded him seven-year imprisonment.

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The order was later confirmed by the then General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Udhampur. In a major indictment of his seniors, the AFT observed that his senior officers had purposely implicated the young officer in a false case to ensure that the gold he had recovered during a search operation could be concealed from the government.

The AFT order quashing Chauhan’s sacking order has directed the Defence Ministry to provide him promotional avenues up to the stage of Lieutenant Colonel for the purpose of arrears of salary pension benefits and rank.

The ministry is also to pay Rs 4 crore to Chauhan and another Rs 1 crore has to be deposited in the Army Central Welfare Fund within four months.

The case goes back to April 11, 1990, when during the peak days of militancy during a search operation in Srinagar, Chauhan in the presence of other soldiers had recovered 147 gold biscuits weighing around 27.5 kg.

The CO, Colonel KRS Panwar allegedly put pressure on Chauhan not to mention the gold in the documents. The other senior officers also remained silent.

The gold biscuits were allegedly embezzled by the senior army officers. The officer took the matter to Parliament's Committee of Petitions. The Army headquarters ordered a separate inquiry.

It was during the inquiry that some army officers covering him with a blanket attacked Chauhan while he was sleeping in a tent.

In 1991, the court martial cut short Chauhan’s career sentencing him to seven-year jail on charges of being a deserter and mentally unstable.