Nearly 26 years ago, a newly commissioned officer of the Indian Army, Shatrughan Singh Chauhan was brutally beaten by his seniors just 12 days after his joining. He was branded a deserter, survived a murder attempt and was sent to prison just because he stood up against the alleged embezzlement of 147 gold biscuits by his seniors.
In January 2017 the Lucknow bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) passed an order in which it not only reinstated Chauhan in the Army along with his seniority and promotions, but also, in a first of its kind, imposed a fine of Rs 5 crore on the Ministry of Defence of which Rs 4 crore would be paid to Chauhan. The rest Rs 1 crore goes to the Army Central Welfare Fund. The AFT, in its order, stated that it was a case of “honor killing” of a young commissioned officer. Chauhan, incidentally, was the recipient of the General Shrinagesh trophy that is given to the best marksman in a batch of cadets.
However, Chauhan’s ordeal is yet to end as he has not received any communication from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) regarding the disbursal of the compensation or the initiation of his pension. “It has been nearly one month and I am yet to receive any communication from the MoD. I do not know whether or not they will let me join the service or pay the compensation amount or start my pension,” Chauhan told this newspaper.
Chauhan’s ordeal started in April 1990, when he was serving as second lieutenant in the 6th Rajput Battalion, his first posting. During a search operation in Srinagar, he, in the presence of other soldiers, recovered 147 gold biscuits weighing around 27.5 kg from a house. According to the AFT verdict, the biscuits, after being displayed to the public, were handed over to his senior officer, Colonel K.R.S. Panwar and Lt General Zaki Mohammad Ahmad. The gold, as per the Army, was to be used by the militant groups to fund their terror activities in the valley.
However, rather than reporting it to the government as per the rules, his seniors allegedly pressurised him not to mention the gold in the seizure documents and when he refused to do so and tried to apprise other officers of the alleged embezzlement by bypassing his seniors, he was first brutally beaten by his seniors in what is called a “Kambal parade”, court martialled, sacked and finally awarded a seven-year imprisonment in November 1991.
No one knows what happened to the 27.5 kg gold.
Chauhan, 57, who lives in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket but lost to Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav, while getting close to 2.31 lakh votes, the highest ever a BJP candidate has got from the seat.
“I had just joined the Army when this happened to me and I lost 26 years of my life. I was tortured in ways that cannot be published in any newspaper. Will this compensation bring back my lost time? And what was my fault? That I did the right thing and did not co-operate with the officials who wanted to embezzle the gold? I lost half of my life but the officials who did wrong to me did not suffer a scratch. Where is the justice in this?,” Chauhan told The Sunday Guardian.
According to Chauhan, despite making repeated requests, until September 2016 the MoD withheld crucial documents that were needed to prove his innocence. “Throughout these years, they stated that the documents were destroyed in fire, but then in September 2016, the documents were handed over to me”, he said.
The AFT, in its observations, said “Cry for justice, safety and security of an officer of the Indian Army was in vain for unforeseen reason. No one came forward to help the petitioner and the GOC, 15 Corps, Lt Gen Zaki Mohammad Ahmad as well as Commanding Officer, 6 Rajput Col K.R.S. Panwar tried their best to keep the Army Headquarters at a distance before the petitioner was convicted by SGCM proceeding.”
Noted Air Marshal Anil Chopra and Justice D.P. Singh additionally noted in their judgement, “Constitution has been made a mockery, Constitutional rights shattered with maltreatment of the petitioner like feudalistic State where rights are under the thumb of autocracy. Such humiliation at least in Indian polity is not expected.”
“No Court of Inquiry, Summary of Evidence or Court Martial proceedings were held in the manner provided by the statutory provisions with regard to recovery of 147 gold biscuits”, they added.
The tribunal further stated, “The present case seems to be ‘honor killing’ of the career and ambition of a young commissioned officer, who has served less than two years in the Indian Army. The career of the petitioner was ‘nipped in the bud’ which seems to suppress recovery of 147 gold biscuits. Role of Lt Gen Zaki Mohammad Ahmad, GOC 15 Corps and Col K.R.S. Panwar and associates seems to be not up to the mark and suffers from extraneous considerations. The honour for which a person joins Army is not money but to serve the nation with honour.”
The verdict also noted, “In view of discussions made here we are of the view that prima facie the entire episode was enacted to frame the petitioner for the charges leveled against him on account of alleged recovery of 147 gold biscuits without lodging any FIR, following the procedure prescribed by law (supra), without preparing seizure memo in accordance with law and without providing medical aid and check-up required for a mentally disturbed person, a commissioned officer of the Army, viz. the petitioner, who served only for less than two years and it was never expected that he shall raise wrong allegations against his superiors with regard to recovery of 147 gold biscuits. The petitioner was tried and convicted against all canons of justice and sentenced to imprisonment which was later on reduced to period of imprisonment already undergone by Chief of the Army Staff keeping in view the material evidence on record. The Chief of the Army Staff was kept in dark and efforts were made to keep the petitioner at a reasonable distance from Army Headquarters while proceeding against him. It shows missing link in the unified command of Indian Army and requires to be filled up.”
The AFT, while commenting on the alleged murder attempt that was made on Chauhan by another soldier in uniform, also called for an in depth and high level inquiry into the whole matter: “It requires appropriate and in-depth high level inquiry on the part of Chief of the Army Staff. The matter gains seriousness for the reason that murderous assault on the life of a commissioned officer (petitioner) was made and it was attempted to be converted into attempt to suicide, that too without any investigation.”