Defamation case: Court summons ex-Army Chief Gen V K Singh

This is the first time that an ex-Army Chief and top- ranking officers including the Vice Chief have been asked to appear before a court.

Besides Gen V K Singh, the other four named in the complaint and have been summoned are Vice Chief of Army Staff S K Singh, Lt Gen B S Thakur (DGMI), Major General S L Narshiman (Additional Director General of Public Information) and Lt Col Hitten Sawhney, accusing them of misusing their official positions, power and authority to level false charges against him.

The court directed them to appear before it on July 20. Metropolitan Magistrate Jay Thareja said all the five have been "summoned as accused in the present matter".

In his three-page order, the Magistrate said "complicity" of Gen V K Singh in the issuance of March 5 press release, in which Tejinder Singh was accused of offering Rs.14 crore as bribe to the Army Chief for clearing a deal for 600 trucks, was "prima facie deductible".

"After deliberating upon the submissions made by advocate (for Tejinder Singh), perusing the evidence/material brought on record during the inquiry under Section 202 of the CrPC and studying the law, I find that now this court has sufficient material to proceed against all the respondents," the magistrate said.

The court, however, said the summons are only for the alleged offence of defamation as the allegation of hatching a criminal conspiracy appears to be "absurd".

If the defamation charge is proved, it entails a maximum punishment of two years, or fine, or both.

The former army chief and other officers now have the option of either appearing before the magistrate or challenging the summons before the sessions judge or the Delhi High Court.

When contacted, the Defence Ministry and Army authorities refrained from commenting on the issue as the matter was subjudice, while Gen (retd) Singh was unavailable for comments.(MORE)