By IANS,
Chandigarh : A major general of the Indian Army, who till recently commanded a frontier infantry division in Jammu and Kashmir, has been sacked after a general court martial (GCM) on charges of molesting a young woman officer while teaching her meditation.
The GCM, which recommended dismissal from service for Major General A.K. Lal, concluded Saturday at Punjab’s Batinda military station in, about 250 km from here. The GCM was presided by the commanding officer of 10 Corps, Lt. Gen. R.S. Sujlana.
The GCM’s verdict is subject to final approval by the Chief of Army Staff. The recommendation is likely to reach the army headquarters in New Delhi next week.
Army sources said that this is the most severe punishment handed down to a serving general by a GCM. Lal, who was based in Ladakh, is also the highest ranked officer to be convicted on charges of sexual exploitation and molestation.
The GCM was ordered in July 2008 after an inquiry ordered in September last year found Lal prima facie guilty of molesting the woman officer.
The woman officer, Captain Neha Rawat, had accused Lal of calling her to his home near Leh last year for meditation classes and then trying to molest her. She claimed that the general held the classes in his bedroom.
Lal, his wife and their daughter have continuously denied the allegations made by Rawat and claimed that these were instigated.
The general was commanding the 3 Infantry Division near Leh last year when the scandal erupted. He was subsequently moved out of the Northern Command and attached with the Mathura-based 1 Corps.