By IANS
Jammu : In the second such judgment in three months, an Indian Army soldier has been sentenced to death for shooting dead his colleague, a defence ministry spokesperson here said Friday.
Sepoy Satyam Kumar of the Corps of Signals had opened fire and killed Havildar Padam Rajan on October 28, 2006.
He was arrested and tried at a general court martial (GCM) conducted by the army's Northern Command in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir that delivered its verdict on May 18.
During the trial he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death, army spokesman Lt. Col. S.D. Goswami said here.
The verdict, the sixth such in two decades, would now travel up the chain of command to the general officer commanding of the Northern Command, the army chief and the defence minister before it is confirmed.
Kumar would also have the option of appealing to the Kashmir High Court and the Supreme Court and then to the president, who is the supreme commander of the armed forces, in case the sentence is confirmed.
On February 26, Sepoy S.C. Behera was sentenced to death for killing his commanding officer, Lt. Col. Saket Saxena on October 30, 2006.
This sentence is also awaiting approval of the higher authorities.
The two verdicts come in the wake of a staggering 23 cases of fratricidal killings that were reported in the Indian Army during 2006. None of the previous death sentences have, however, been executed as the appeals in them are pending at various states in civil courts, officials here said.
The killings had prompted Defence Minister A.K. Antony to task a high-powered panel that included representation from the Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR) to examine the malaise and suggest remedial measures. This report is believed to have been received and is being examined by the defence ministry.
Simultaneously, Antony has taken two other steps.
He has urged the armed forces to re-look leave rules and other benefits for soldier to make them more humane and to enable them spend more time with their families.
Antony has also written to all the state chief ministers and union territory administrators to ensure that land-related and other problems that soldiers face back home are speedily addressed so that the men in uniform can focus on the job at hand.
Among the other death sentences handed down, a havildar of the 75 Armoured Regiment, whose name was not immediately available, was held guilty of killing two of his officers in 1984-85.
In 1990, Sepoy D.N. Roy of the Corps of Signals was held guilty of murder, while in 2000, Havildar Surendra Singh of the Regiment of Artillery was sentenced on a similar charge.
In 2005, havildar Jagtar Singh, also from the artillery, was awarded the extreme punishment for killing two of his colleagues.