A colonel commanding his unit does not have to obey the “illegal and unlawful” commands of his superior officers to stage fake encounters even if there is “organisational pressure” on him, an order of the ministry of defence (MoD) issued in 2009, on the infamous “Ketchup” fake kills episode, has stated. This was the
basis on which the MoD finally rejected the recommendation of the Army to commute the sentence awarded by a court martial to the “Ketchup Colonel” Col. H.S. Kohli from dismissal to reinstatement in service with five years of loss of service for seniority and pension along with a severe reprimand. In August, 2003, officers of the 175 Field Regiment (under the 57 Mountain Division) posted in Assam had splashed tomato ketchup on soldiers posing as slain militants in order to show a (fake) encounter in the hope of receiving gallantry awards.
While examining the fake kills episode, the MoD, in a previous noting, also cited the Army headquarters’ own notes to state that “there was severe pressure from the (Army) higher authorities to show ‘kills’ in counter-insurgency operations”. The MoD had noted that “the larger policy issue of encouraging ‘kills’ needs deliberation at the highest level”.
MoD documents which have surfaced now also show that Brig. S.S. Rao, who was Col. Kohli’s superior officer at the time of the fake kills episode in 2003, had ordered the staging of the fake encounter. Brig. Rao too was earlier ordered to be dismissed from service for his role in the fake encounter by an Army court martial but the Army, in a controversial decision taken a few years ago, had finally commuted Brig. Rao’s sentence to reinstatement with loss of five years of service for the purpose of pension and severe reprimand. MoD documents also show that a memorandum attached by the court martial “suggests the involvement” of the major general who was then heading the 57 Mountain Division.
The MoD documents, which are bound to trigger a fresh debate, will now be presented as part of a review petition by Col. Kohli before the Armed Forces Tribunal on Thursday. Col. Kohli is petitioning against his dismissal from service.