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Siachen 'killings' accused seeks transfer
Chandigarh |
May 12, 2004 03:26 IST
Last Updated: May 12, 2004 03:30 IST
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today disposed of a petition by Major Surinder Singh, the Indian Army officer alleged to be behind the 'Siachen fake killings', arguing against his posting in Jammu and Kashmir. A division bench, comprising Justices V K Bali and M S Gill, disposed of the petition after the Army Counsel gave an undertaking that the officer would be attached to a unit outside J&K for his trial and that the proceedings would be open to the public.
Maj. Singh, who as a company commander in 5/5 Gorkha Rifles allegedly staged fake killings and demolitions of enemy bunkers in the Siachen Glacier, the world's highest battlefield, had asked that he be moved to a location where he would get a fair opportunity to defend himself.
He had challenged the (Army's) order of his attachment to a remote unit in the Kashmir Valley on the grounds that there is a restriction on his employability, placed by the Medical Board, in that he is unfit for service in an high-altitude area.
He had said that the unit to which he is being attached is at an insurgency-infested place where, besides the possibility that his health would suffer, counsel could not go to appear for the defense.
The Army had yesterday moved to shift the legal proceedings against personnel involved in the allegedly fake killings outside Jammu and Kashmir, and has also made it clear that disciplinary action would be taken against all erring officers, irrespective of rank