| India's Supreme Court summons record relating to next Army chief's appointment |
| Last Updated(Beijing Time):2012-04-23 16:31 |
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India's highest judiciary, the Supreme Court, Monday sought from the country's government the entire record relating to the appointment of Lieutenant General Bikram Singh as the country's next Army chief after the incumbent General V.K. Singh retires on May 31.
The apex court wants to find out if the allegations against Bikram Singh were placed before the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet of Ministers before clearing his name for the top post in the Indian Army, sources said.
The Supreme Court, in fact, summoned the records in the wake of a petition alleging that in the name of a succession plan, Bikram Singh's appointment as the next Army chief was manipulated right from 2005, when he was promoted as major general, the sources added.
The petition by a group of retired military officials, including former Navy chief Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas, has alleged that Bikram Singh was involved in a fake encounter in 2001, and had failed to act against some Indian Army officers involved in sexual harassment and rape when they were posted in Congo in 2008 as part of the United Nations' peace-keeping mission.
The Indian Defence Ministry, however, has described the allegations as malicious aimed at denigrating the institution of the Army. |
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