AFVOA Newsletters of Year 2012

Page 28 of 80 Infantry’s “Sikh Regimental Centre” was located, stating that nearly 1,500 soldiers had broken out. After raiding the Armoury and killing their Centre Commandant, Brig SC Puri, they were on their way to Amritsar, in vehicles commandeered by them. This information struck the vital nerve of a few soldiers. In their confused minds, they decided to march on to Amritsar, but, they never raided the Unit Quarter Guard to arm themselves. They just took over a few Army Lorries and without any forethought or planning, started their journey towards Punjab. The Division was alerted and they were captured near Siliguri, by at least three Infantry Battalions mobilised for this purpose, within the Division. There was no struggle, no casualties suffered by either side. Due to the large scale mutiny, the Regiment was placed under suspended animation. The Mutineers, 165 of them, were arrested and were distributed to the Quarter Guards of various Units of the Division, since it was impossible to hold them in any single place. Facts of the Case The real saga and the tenacity of Col Marimuthu as an officer began here. At that time he was an Instructor of Gunnery in the School of Artillery, enjoying a well deserved break after the High Altitude tenureat Kargil, where he was commanding a Regiment. He was specially picked and posted as the Commanding Officer of the Regiment, now tarnished by the mutiny. Most of the Officers of the affected Unit, including its CO were removed, and were also facing various charges pertaining to the Mutiny. The new CO reached Binaguri Railway Station on 15 th March 1985 and was received by the Second-in-Command (2/ IC) of the Unit. It was a Cold reception. During the journey from Station to the Unit, the new CO was anxious to learn more about the Regiment & the 2 /IC was careful not to reveal anything. On reaching the Unit, the CO went directly to the Gurdwara and paid his obeisance to the Granth Sahib and sought the blessings of the Gurus. By that time he was called by the Brigade Commander. While the Brigade Commander was briefing him, he was asked to report to the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Division. Before he could finish the interview with the GOC, the GOC Corps was on the line, asking the GOC Division to send him to his office. So, within a few hours of the new CO landing in the Station, he had met all the Commanders in his chain of reporting. The Central theme of all these commanders as perceived by the CO was that they wanted him to sort out the mess at the earliest, since the whole division was in high alert due to this incident. The CO assured them that he would not only sort out the mess, but also re-raise the Regiment to its past glory. Of course, one of them were all a bit skeptical. With the Unit already in suspended animation, with 165 of its Jawans in various Quarter Guards, and an effective strength of just 150 JCOs and other Ranks, and a couple of Officers, it was really a daunting task. Col Marimuthu went about the task methodically. He visited all his men in various Quarter Guards and assured them that justice would be done to their cases. For the rest of the men who were in the Regiment, he held a Sainik Sammelan and assured them that he had come to command the Regiment and not to demobilise or disband it. He demanded the collective effort of all present to bring back the Regiment to its glorious past. His immediate task was to carry out disciplinary action against all the defaulters. There were 165 Jawans to be tried. None of the Unit Officers who were present could be ordered to Record Summary of Evidence (S of E), since they themselves were