CHAHRA BAHADUR THAPA Vs. COMMANDANT OF THE 6TH BATTALION ASSAM RIFLES,

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS revision arises out of the conviction of one Chakra Bahadur Thapa, a Naik in the 6th Battalion Assam Rifies, under Section 6(b) of the Assam Rifles Act V of 1941 and out of the sentence of 15 months' Rule 1, passed against him by Lt. Col. Zamir Ahmed, Commandant of the said Battalion, in his capacity as first class Magistrate appointed by the Tripura Administration.

(2.) ON 12.11.1961 an incident took place in the Assam Rifles Officers' Club at about 1 P.M. Major C.N. Madiah, who was temporarily acting as Commandant of the Battalion, went to the Club at about 1 O'clock and saw two minor girls in the room of Naik Chakra Bahadur Thapa who was on duty at the Club. The Major appears to have questioned the said Naik about the presence of the girls in the Club premises. After that, the Major is said to have gone to the telephone to call a friend for lunch and while he was telephoning, this Naik was alleged to have jumped at the Major and hit him with fist on the. face and caused profuse Weeding. Then the Major caught hold of the hand of the Naik and tried to prevent him from further violence and warned him about the consequences of his action to his superior. The Naik is there said to have caught hold of the shirt of the officer and torn it. Then the Naik is said to have gone into the store -room and brought a sword and pointed it at the Major's stomach, but nothing further was done with the sword. The Major is then said to have left the Club building after going to the bath -room and washing his face.

(3.) AS per the Major's orders, the adjutant Captain Roshan Lal kept the Naik in the lock up. On the same day the adjutant drew up a crime report against the Naik mentioning two charges under the. Assam Rifles (Amendment) Act, 1958, Section 6(b). Evidently this was a mistake for the Assam Rifles Act, 1941 Section 6(b). This mistake persisted throughout the proceedings. The two charges mentioned in the crime report were first the assault with the fist causing profuse, bleeding and the tearing of the shirt and the second the picking up of the sword from the Club store room and threatening to use the same. This -crime report drawn up by the adjutant was placed before the Commandant Lt. Col. Zamir Ahmed on his return and on his assuming charge again as Commandant of the -Battalion on 17 -11 -61 and on that, he passed an order "remanded for judicial proceedings" evidently meaning that it was decided that judicial proceedings should betaken against the accused and that he should be remanded for the purpose. The accused continued to be kept. ***** custody in the barracks.