CORRUPTION IN MILITARY
JUSTICE SYSTEM & CITIZEN
SERVICEMEN’S RIGHTS
Jyoti, Chatterjee ∗ Chandra Nath†
Abstract
The paper surveys the corruption in the Military Justice System
in particular from the perspective of the citizen soldiers’ Fundamental
Rights. The citizen soldier who pledges his career and life for defend-
ing the freedom and liberties of the nation be NOT deprived of the
very rights he pledges his life to defend for the rest of the citizenry. A
formal theory of corruption in Institutions is defined. While conced-
ing that there are compelling arguments to restrict some of the rights
under actual battle condition for maintaining absolute discipline in a
cohesive fighting force, the authors develop persuasive arguments NOT
to sacrifice all of the fundamental rights ALL the time as has been
done under the constitution and the statutes and structures created in
the independent India. The root causes of the excessive compromise
is analyzed. The current trend of granting as much human rights as
possible under the real life constraints to the citizen soldier of the lib-
eral democracies is surveyed. The current firmament in USA, UK,
Canada and Australia are referred to make a persuasive case for a
total review of the military justice system. While conceding that the
reform is unlikely to come from the military brass because of inherent
conflicts of interests, and also the tracing the all too well known apa-
thy of the law makers, we conclude that superior judiciary is the last
bastion to protect the citizen soldiers rights under unjust legacy laws.
The reform can only come as it has in other liberal democracies of the
western world out of the superior judiciary declaring the present dis-
pensation are in violation of the fundamental rights and human rights
of the citizen soldier and hence unconstitutional. A series of measures
to reform the constitution, statutes, structures and the due process are
recommended. The issues raised are hoped to stir the conscience of
the nation and those who seek justice for the citizen soldiers.
Key Words : Military Justice System, citizen soldiers, Convening Au-
thority, Unlawful Command Influence.
∗ jyotirmoikatayani@gmail.com Pursuing Ph.D in West Bengal National University of
Juridical Sciences, Kolkata
† nath@computer.org is engaged as an Independent researcher in information security,
privacy and law in Los Angeles, California, USA.
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