AFVOA Newsletters of Year 2012

Page 29 of 80 witnesses. He approached the Division. He was given 20 Officers on attachment. He carried out a tutorial for them in Military Law, so that there was no hold up during the trial stage. Every day, 10 Soldiers were marched up to him, where the Charge Sheet was read out and their plea of guilty or not guilty was entered. As was expected from the Sikh Soldiers, none pleaded “Not Guilty”. Then he would order for the recording of S of E. Col Marimuthu, after going through each case, decided that none of them should be thrown out of the Army as, in their religious ferver and anguish they were like a flock of sheep being blindly led by a few. He had recommended to the JAG Branch at the Command HQ, that 135 cases to be tried by Summary Court Martial (SCM) and the rest to be tried by District or General Court Martial, as per the gravity of their offences. He also recommended that all the defaulters should be retained in service on completion of their punishments. The entire process took nearly 3 months. Col Marimuthu till date holds the record of conducting the maximum number of SCM, tried within 25 days in any Unit of the Indian Army. This fact was neither acknowledged nor complimented by the army. While the disciplinary aspect was being dealt with, the greater concern was to put the Regiment back on rails. Fresh recruits were being posted in. Training had started in full swing. But, the CO noticed that there was certain reluctance on the part of higher formations to include his Regiment in various Sports and other Troop oriented activities. His Regiment was not listed in the Division Khud Race. Though he had just 90 effective personnel, he fought for the inclusion of his Regiment in the race. To everyones bewilderment, the Regiment came sixth in the merit list, pushing three Infantry Battalions behind it. Slowly, the environment started to admire the spirit of the Regiment. By June 1985, the SCMs were over and the CO awarded three to six months sentences in Military Custody, to be spent in Military Prison, Secunderabad. Now was the problem of moving them to Secunderabad under escort. The Division was at its wits end, to transport 135 prisoners. But the CO was confident. He assured the GOC that they would be moved without any escort, since every one of the prisoners was a soldier and he trusted them. Within the Prisoners themselves, he divided them into groups and appointed their commanders for the period of transit. The Air Force had laid out Transport Planes for their move. When the Prisoners’ convoy reached Hashimara Airfield, the entire Air Force Station was put on high alert by the Air Force Station Commander. The CO had arranged for high Tea for his Prisoners, at the Air Field itself, and individually bid them farewell before their departure to Military Prison. The Station Commander was left speechless. He immediately ordered stand down to his earlier High Alert. The only request from the prisoners was to come back to the same Regiment, whose name was tarnished by their indiscretion. They wanted to be part of the rebuilding process. The CO told them that it was not possible, but he would write personal letters to the COs of their new Regiments, to which they would be joining after their term of sentence were over, that they should be happy to have been posted with such great warriors. In his letter to various COs, he specifically requested them to give the boys a fair chance, without attaching any stigma over their past conduct in the mutiny. It was heartening to learn that many had got their promotions to higher ranks, in their new Units.