Navy gets nod to court martial officer

A sessions court on Wednesday gave its order on an application filed by the Navy seeking to court martial one of its officers,arrested for allegedly stabbing his colleague’s wife in February this year. Passing the order,Principal judge M T Joshi sent the case back to a metropolitan magistrate,before whom the Navy will seek custody of its officer R A Chandran. The court passed the order on this application based on section 475 of the CrPC,which allows the magistrate to decide the jurisdiction of the court in which Army,Navy,Air Force officials can be tried.The magistrate,if they deem fit,can deliver the accused to the respective commanding officer for the purpose of court martial trial. The matter will be heard before the magistrate on June 30.Chandran,who is presently out on bail,was arrested for stabbing Anita Rawat,wife of a fellow sailor Dharampal,with a kitchen knife.