Col (Retd) TN Raman
Many a times we wonder how some magnificent efforts by a few of our Colleagues had gone un-noticed and consigned to the forgotten pages of the History of our Regiments.
1984- Prelude
The year was marked by the Operation Blue Star, undertook by the Indian Army, to flush out the Sikh Terrorists from the Golden Temple, Amritsar. This episode pertains to an Artillery Regiment, which did not take part in the operation proper, but was sucked into the whirlwind of the Religious trauma the Sikh Soldiers of our Army faced, at that time.
In the first week of June 1984, the Unit, which was a Sikh Regiment, was in Binaguri, for Field Firing Exercises, prior to its Annual Practice Camp. From the 3rd June onwards, the Unit was receiving reports over the Radio & TV about the Army entering the Golden Temple & desecrating the same. The rumour was planted within the unit that the Akal Takht was destroyed and all the Sikh Troops around the country have mutinied and were heading for Amritsar. There was some semblance of truth in the rumour, because a message was received from Ramgarh, Bihar, where the Sikh Regimental Centre was located, that nearly 1,500 soldiers broke out. After raiding the Armoury and killing their Centre Commandant, Brig SC Puri, they were on their way to Amritsar, in vehicles commandeered by them.
This information struck the vital nerve of a few soldiers. In their confused minds, they decided to march on to Amritsar, but, they never raided the Unit Quarter Guard to arm themselves. They just took over a few Army Lorries and without any forethought or planning, started their journey towards Punjab. The Division was alerted and they were captured near Siliguri, by at least three Infantry Battalions mobilized for this purpose, within the Division. No struggle, no casualties suffered by either side. Due to the large scale mutiny, the Regiment was placed under suspended animation. The Mutineers, 165 of them, were arrested & were distributed to the Quarter Guards of various Units of the Division, since it was impossible to hold them in any single place.
Facts of the Case
The real saga of tenacity of an officer began here. At that time he was an Instructor of Gunnery in the School of Artillery, enjoying a well deserved break from the High Altitude of Kargil, where he was commanding a Regiment. He was posted as the Commanding Officer (CO) of the Regiment, tarnished by the mutiny. Most of the Officers of the affected Unit, including its CO were removed, and were also facing various charges pertaining to the Mutiny.
The new CO reached Binaguri Railway Station on 15th March 1985 and was received by the Second-in-Command (2 IC) of the Unit. It was a Cold reception. During the journey from Station to the Unit, the new CO was anxious to learn more about the Regiment & the 2 IC was careful not to reveal anything. On reaching the Unit, the CO went directly to the Gurdwara and paid his obeisance to the Granth Sahib and sought the blessings of the Gyaniji.
By that time he was called by the Brigade Commander. When he was with the Commander, he was asked to report to the Division Commander. Before he could finish the interview, the Corps Commander was on the line.
The Central theme of all these commanders as perceived by the CO was that they wanted him to sort out the mess at the earliest since the whole division was in peril due to this incident. The CO assured them that he would not only sort out the mess but also re-raise the Regiment to its past glory. Of course they were all a bit skeptical. With the Unit already in suspended animation, with 165 of its Jawans in various Quarter Guards, and an effective strength of just 90 JCOs and Other Ranks, and a couple of Officers, it was really a daunting task.
The CO went about the task methodically. He visited all his men in various Quarter Guards & assured them that justice will be done in their cases. For the rest also he assured them that he had come to command the Regiment and not to demobilize it.
His immediate task was to carry out disciplinary action against all the defaulters. There were 165 Jawans to be tried. None of the Unit Officers who were present could be ordered to Record Summary of Evidence (S of E), since they themselves were witnesses. He approached the Division. He was given 20 Officers on attachment. He carried out a tutorial for them in Military Law, so that there was no hold up during the trial stage. Every day, 10 Soldiers were marched up to him, where the Charge Sheet was read out and their plea of guilty or not guilty was entered. As we could expect from only the Sikh Soldiers, none pleaded “Not Guilty”. He would order for the recording of S of E.
The CO, after going through each case, decided that none of them should be thrown out of the Army as they were like a flock of sheep being blindly led by a few. He had recommended to the JAG Branch at the Command HQ, that 135 cases to be tried by Summary court Martial (SCM) and the rest to be tried by District or General Court Martial, due to the gravity of their offences. He also recommended that the defaulters should be retained in service on completion of their punishments.
The entire process took nearly 3 months. The CO till date holds the record of maximum number of SCM, tried within 25 days in any Unit of the Indian Army. This fact was neither acknowledged nor complimented by the army.
While the disciplinary aspect was being dealt with, the greater concern was to put the Regiment back on rails. Fresh recruits were being posted in. Training had started in full swing. But, the CO noticed that there was certain reluctance on the part of higher formations to include his Regiment in various Sports & other Troop oriented activities. His Regiment was not listed in the Division Khud Race. Though he had just 90 effective personnel, he fought for the inclusion of his Regiment in the race. To every ones bewilderment, his Regiment came sixth in the merit list, pushing three Infantry Battalions behind it. Slowly, the environment started to admire the spirit of the Regiment.
By June 1985, the SCMs were over & the CO awarded three to six months sentences in Military Custody, to be spent in Military Prison, Secunderabad. Now came the problem of moving them to Secunderabad under escort., The Division was at its wits end, to transport 135 prisoners, but the CO was confident. He assured the Commander that they will be moved without any escort. Within the Prisoners themselves, he divided them into groups and appointed their commanders for the period of transit. The Air Force had laid out Transport Planes for their move. When the Prisoners’ convoy reached Hashimara Airfield, the entire Air Force Station was put on high alert by the Air Force Station Commander.
The CO had arranged for high Tea for his Prisoners, at the Air Field itself, and individually bid them farewell before their departure to Military Prison. The Station Commander was left speechless. He immediately ordered stand down to his earlier High Alert.
Their only request was to come back to the same Regiment, whose name was tarnished by their indiscretion. They wanted to be part of the rebuilding process. The CO told them that it was not possible, but he would write to their entire COs that they should be happy to have been posted with such great warriors.
Epilogue
A couple of years back, there was a dinner in honour of Gen Deepak Kapoor, the previous COAS. Col K Marimuthu & I attended. While talking to Col Marimuthu, the Chief mentioned, “your name is well known in the Regiment of Artillery”. The hero of this episode is Col (Retd) K Marimuthu, who took over the command of 166 Field Regiment, which was involved in the mutiny, after finishing his first successful command tenure of 262 Field Regiment in Kargil. I was fortunate to take over 262 Field Regiment from him, in Kargil.
Col. Marimuthu was instrumental in 166 Field Regiment retaining its Colour as well as its composition, after its brush with such an unfortunate episode. Men made of lesser material would have reported sick or tried their level best to avoid such a tryst with destiny. He faced the situation courageously and above all delivered the goods. Not without the attendant perils.
His wife told me that they used to receive threatening letters (anonymous ones) every now and then. The letters invariably contained the same message, “If you sentence any Sikh Soldier, you may not live to see the sentence executed”.
Col. Marimuthu is quite dismissive of such threats saying that “I loved those boys and the Sikh Soldiers of my Regiment had full confidence in me to deliver justice. I just did that”.
In his own humble and unassuming way, Col Marimuthu has brought out a grest lesson on Military Leadership and Man Management.
I salute him!!
Veteran Raman
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