War room leak case accused get no relief from Tribunal

The Armed Forces Tribunal today rejected petitions of two former naval officers, accused in the Navy war room leak case, for re-instatement and dismissed their contention that they had been discriminated against.

The Tribunal also refused to give any relief to commander Vijender Rana and commander Vinod Kumar Jha on their contention that no court martial was held against them which would have given them an opportunity to defend themselves.

Rana and Jha, who challenged their dismissal from service following allegations of leaking secret information of the navy, had alleged that they were made "sacrificial goats" to save the kin of the then Navy Chief Arun Prakash.

In their petition, they alleged that Prakash's kin Ravi Shankaran was the "real culprit" in the case.

Opposing their plea, the Navy argued that the officers were dismissed from service without any inquiry as court martial would not have been "conducive in the public interest" as it would have involved the security of the State.

Agreeing with Navy's contention, the Tribunal Bench headed by justice AK Mathur said "it will not be in public interest and the security of the State to give a show cause notice to the petitioner of holding of Court Martial as the disclosure of the same will seriously prejudice the security of the country."

"We do not find any merit in both the cases and same are dismissed," it added.

Alleging "discrimination", Jha and Rana had sought to equate their case to an IAF officer accused in the same scandal, saying he was tried by a Court of Inquiry but they were not accorded any such opportunity.

Observing that there was "no question of discrimination", the Tribunal said the IAF officer "was charged for a serious omission and commission reflecting about his military reputation and the character, whereas, in the present case no such charge was levelled against these officers involving their reputation and character."

It added that disclosures in the Board of Inquiry against Rana and Jha were "so serious" that authorities thought it proper not to order any further inquiry against their reputation and character.

"It was also realised that holding of inquiry and disclosing of the war room secrets will be more injurious to the security of the country," the Tribunal said.

The two officers, arrested by CBI in 2006 under Official Secrets Act, are at present lodged in Tihar jail here

Nine people including Rana, Jha, IAF Wing commander Sambhaji Rao Surve and Ravi Shankaran were charged for leaking secrets from Navy's war room.

After the matter came to light, Navy constituted a Board of Inquiry into it and Rana and Jha were found guilty and sacked along with Captain Kashyap Kumar (the then Director of Naval Operations).