CHANDIGARH: After years of protracted legal battle, an Amy. Officer, who was ordered to be cashiered from military service following a general court martial, will be finally reinstated and promoted to the rank of Brigadier, which was denied to him in the aftermath of mutiny in the Sikh Regimental Center at Ramgarh in Tune, 1984,.
‘The case is unprecedented in Indian military history. An undertaking for the reinstatement and promotion of Col. Jagdey Singh was given by the Amy authorities before Justice Ashok Bhan and Justice K.S. Kumaran of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, last week.
Col. Jagdey Singh, who was approved for promotion as Brigadier in October, 1983, was the Deputy Commandant at the Center when a large number of troops deserted after the Operation Bluestar in Punjab in 1984, while the Center commandant, Brigadier S.C. Puri was killed; Cull Jagdey Singh was injured when the two restrained the fleeing jawans. The Army authorities denied the Brigadier’s rank to Col. Jagdev ‘Singh, for which he had been approved prior to the incident and ordered his trial by GCM for failing to prevent the mutiny. He was ordered to be cashiered and sentenced to undergo one year’s simple imprisonment in June, 1987.
‘What followed was a seven year Legal battle during which the honor of the officer was vindicated step by step. The denouement came last week when the Court was told that his reinstatement orders had been made and his posting orders in the rank of Brigadier will be issued within a week or so. Earlier, the Court had ordered that all the consequential benefits should be given to him.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 25, 1994
