Are you above the law, high court asks navy

Mumbai: Deepak Kumar, 25, and Vijendra Sharma, 24 had trained hard to join the much-coveted marine commandos of the Indian Navy in 2007. In a few months, they were disgracefully shunted out of the force and reduced to mere sailors.

Both were given a summary trial and sentenced to 60 days and 90 days in detention. Thereafter, their ranks were stripped off as divers. And, they went through all this, without knowing what their offense really was.
The two officers moved the Bombay high court seeking a suspension of this order. The high court found out that there was not even a complaint attached to the records.
An affidavit filed by Commander M Subramaniam, commanding officer, INS Abhimanyu--the training hub of the Marcos--stated that the officers were charge-sheeted for striking a superior officer, absence from duty and use of threatening language. However, the court was irked by the affidavit which said, "Neither the Navy Act, 1957 nor the regulations formed there under specifically cater for providing of documents in respect of the summary trial to an accused."
"Are you above the law? You don't follow any rules and regulations?" responded Justice Bilal Nazki. The court has given time to the naval authorities till September 1 to decide whether or not they will withdraw the order removing the two officers. Otherwise, the court will set it aside and order the reinstatement of the Marcos officers.
"Even the British did not do this," justice Nazki had earlier remarked.
Satendra Kumar, advocate for the naval officers, cited two past judgments of the high court that said that it is the constitutional right of a person to know the offenses he is being tried for. At the time of their detention, prior to the summary trial, the two had asked for various documents like the charge sheet and complaints filed against them, but were denied the papers.
"The government of India spends Rs15 lakh on training each marine officer. Such arbitrary stripping of their ranks not only spells doom for their career but also puts the government's expenses down the drain," Kumar said.