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Court martial orders dismissal of Anjali Gupta

Staff Reporter

Found guilty of five of the seven charges levelled against her

BANGALORE: The General Court Martial (GCM) on Thursday ordered dismissal from service of Indian Air Force (IAF) Flying Officer, Anjali Gupta, finding her guilty of five of the seven charges against her. The order is subject to confirmation by the Chief of Air Staff.

The five-member GCM headed by Group Captain V. Ganesh passed the order after ascertaining the service records and the conduct of Ms. Gupta. She was found guilty of snatching and throwing the food packet of Gp. Capt. R.K. Sharma in the officer's mess; failing to appear without sufficient cause at the place appointed for station PT and failing to appear on five dates at the place appointed for daily morning briefing.

The GCM gave a special finding and held Ms. Gupta guilty of the charge that she had claimed Rs. 1,080 as road mileage allowance for her travel from the Headquarters Training Command to the Air Force Technical College by falsely stating she had travelled by a car by giving the registration number of a scooter.

Second, third charges

The GCM absolved Ms. Gupta of second and third charges. The second charge against Ms. Gupta was that she had falsely submitted in the "authorisation of move" that she had proceeded on temporary duty from Bangalore to New Delhi by Rajdhani Express on May 19, 2004, when she had made the said journey by a service aircraft on May 18, 2004.

The third charge was that she had falsely submitted she had travelled from Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment to Headquarters Training Command and back on May 19,2004 when she had already proceeded to the Air Headquarters, New Delhi, on May 18, 2004.

Earlier in the day, the Judge Advocate, Sqr. Ldr. Suhag, went through the arguments made by the prosecutor, Wg. Cdr. R.K. Dubey, and Ms. Gupta's defence counsel, Mohan Kumar. After going through the arguments on each of the charges, Sq. Ldr. Suhag said he was just giving the versions of the prosecution and the defence.The Judge Advocate, Sq. Ldr. Suhag, then asked Ms. Gupta if she had any "plea for mitigation" before pronouncing the sentence. Ms. Gupta replied, "I do not want to make a plea. I only express my heartfelt gratitude to the GCM for the pains and efforts taken by it to come to a finality."

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