The Recent ordering of a court martial of a lieutenant-general in the Indian Army in connection with a land transfer case brings to mind my first experience of a court martial. It was in Indonesia in 1946, as a defending officer. I had to defend Aslam Khan and Mohammad Shareef of 4/8 Punjab Regiment. They had deserted with their weapons and had been taken prisoners in battle wearing the uniform of captains in the Indonesian Army. At the summary of evidence they had stated that they answered the call of Islam and were fighting for their Indonesian Muslim brothers. They were charged with waging war against the King and for desertion with arms in war. Capital punishment is prescribed for both offences. I was at a loss as to how to defend them. When the summary of evidence was recorded they were not told that it was not incumbent on them to make any statement, but should they make one it could be used as evidence against them in a court martial. My request for a fresh summary of evidence, on this ground, was accepted. The accused now stated that an Indonesian girl had offered them cigarettes and that they had passed out on smoking these. When they recovered, they found themselves in an Indonesian Army camp. They joined the Indonesian Army so that they could get back to their regiment at the first opportunity. They were convicted and sentenced to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment, a light sentence considering they could have been executed. Little did I know that Aslam Khan, grateful to be alive, would have another role to play.
Pakistan invaded Kashmir in October 1947 but denied complicity, saying it was a freedom struggle that was raging in Kashmir. I had to collect evidence of Pakistan’s involvement to be presented to the UN commission due to visit India. I went to Yol, where Pakistani prisoners were kept. I met Aslam Khan there. He told me that after Partition he and Shareef were released from Jhelum District Jail and hailed as heroes as they had fought for Islam in Indonesia. They were reinstated in the Army and promoted to junior commissioned officers. He was prepared to depose before the UN commission that he was with his battalion fighting in Kashmir. On return to Delhi, I learnt that Pakistan now accepted that her Army was fighting in Kashmir as the war in Kashmir was a threat.
I was associated with courts martial in all capacities except one. I have been a defending officer, a prosecuting officer, a member of the court and a presiding officer, but never an accused. However, in 1949 this prospect haunted me. All the civilian Dakotas of private airlines, totalling 50, were requisitioned in October 1947 to airlift troops to Srinagar. The enemy was approaching Srinagar. The situation was very critical. Working round the clock as General Staff Officer, Operations, I was given the additional responsibility of organising the airlift. Eight hundred sorties were flown from Delhi to Srinagar in 15 days. This saved Srinagar. Commending this, Mountbatten wrote, “In my long experience of war, I have not come across such a massive airlift carried out at such short notice and so successfully”. After the war the airlines submitted their bills, running into a couple of hundred crores of rupees, to the government. It was found that there was no government sanction for this airlift. There was also no record kept of the flights as I had not maintained any. Some people thought I must have received a cut from the airlines. An inquiry was ordered. My bank account was checked but they found it had been perpetually in the red. I heaved a sigh of relief when a government order was issued giving the President’s approval for waiving all the irregularities and sanctioning payment of the bills of all airlines.
In 1978, I took over as adjutant-general of the Army and in that capacity had to deal with courts martial at the highest level. I sent for the proceedings of the oldest available court martial and of the Indian National Army (INA) trials. The former was of Tantiya Tope in 1858. He was arraigned on two charges — waging war against the Queen and the massacre of British civilians in Kanpur. Tantiya Tope asserted that he was in the service of his ruler, Nana Saheb, and it was his duty to fight the British. He pleaded not guilty of the massacre charge as he was neither aware of it nor present there. His involvement in the massacre was not established. The court pronounced him guilty of the first charge and not guilty of the massacre. He was sentenced to be blown from the mouth of a cann­on. In the latter case Bhullabhai Desai, the leading lawyer of India, defended the INA officers at their trial. Jawaharlal Nehru joined the defence panel. Desai’s long address to the court was brilliant. He did not argue that these officers had fought for a noble cause, i.e. the freedom of India. He concentrated on establishing that Azad Hind was a full-fledged independent state, as per intern­ational law. It had its own territory (Andamans), Army, currency and postage stamps. The INA officers had to be treated as prisoners of war, as per the Geneva Conven­tion, and should have been relea­sed after cessation of hostilities. The court convicted the INA offic­ers but under tremendous popular pressure the government was forced to release them. I ordered that the originals of both these historical court martial procee­di­ngs be sent to the National Archi­ves and photocopies be kept in the records room of the Judge Advocate General.

The author, a retired lieutenant-general, was Vice-Chief of Army Staff and has served as governor of Assam and Jammu and Kashmir.