With the CBI filing chargesheets against five Army officers in the fake Pathribal encounter and the case listed for hearing on May 24 in a Srinagar court, Army Headquarters plans to ask the court to let them hold a court martial instead of subjecting the officers to a trial after a CBI probe.

The Indian Express has learnt that Brigadier Ajay Saxena, the seniormost officer named as an accused by the CBI, has written a letter to Lt General Madan Gopal, Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), pointing out how five Army personnel (four officers and a JCO) have been singled out for “harassment, ignominy, humiliation, agony and financial strain” over an operation conducted jointly by the Army and J&K Police.

Brig Saxena has said that the operation was ordered by a senior Army officer (Sector Commander) of the Rashtriya Rifles on the basis of information provided by the SSP of Anantnag.

Brig Saxena’s wife, Sushma Saxena, has also written to the Army chief’s wife Anupama Singh who’s the president of the Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA).

Saying she was expressing the views of wives of all five officers who have been indicted by the CBI, Sushma Saxena wrote: “If our husbands are prosecuted in this case, then every husband who is fighting in the Valley in the future is also liable to face such action... all our husbands have done is obey orders and carry out operations based on information provided by a Senior Commander and the police.”

The circumstances of the Pathribal encounter have now been outlined by the indicted officers for the Army top brass. The DGMO is understood to have been told that:

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