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For the first time in the Army's history, a former woman officer has been sentenced to a year's rigorous imprisonment and cashiered from service by a general court martial (GCM) which held her guilty of corruption.
The GCM found Major (Retd.) Dimple Singla of the Judge Advocate General branch, the army's legal wing, guilty under sections 52 and 63 of the Army Act for "wrongful gains" while pronouncing the order late last night.
The GCM was presided over by Col Sanjeev Jose of Army's Western Command. She was charged with accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a defence counsel during another court martial, an act termed as being "prejudicial to good order and military discipline".
37-year-old Singla was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for one year and cashiered from service for professional impropriety by Col Jose.
Singla was facing trial for demanding and accepting the bribe from an accused army man, Havildar Chandran, to influence court martial proceedings in his favour in 2006 at Dehradun.
She was also accused of violating good order and discipline under Section 63 of the Army Act when she suggested the name of a defence lawyer to Chandran. In addition to this, she was charged with improperly visiting Captain Kamud Maini, who was a defence officer in Chandran's case, and asking him not to divulge any information to the press regarding the GCM.
The court's verdict is subject to confirmation by the convening authority.