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Judgment
Heard counsel for both the parties on the point of admission and have perused the record.
Present OA has been filed by Ms. Sudha Sharma, mother of the applicant Lt Cdr Raghav Sharma claiming the following reliefs:-
(a) Set aside the Trial Notice dated 30 Jan, 2020 along with Signal communication dated 28 Jan 2020, whereby the applicant has been put on notice for
a criminal trial by a Court Martial which is scheduled to commence at 0930 hrs on 18.02.2020, even as the applicant continues to suffer from
psychiatric ailment and consequently not mentally fit to undergo the rigor of trial by a Court Martial.
(b) Set aside the Discharge-Note dated 30.01.2020 (Annexure A2) issued by the Psychiatrist at the INHS Kalyani to the extent it opines that
longitudinal evaluation revealed no objective evidence of psychopathological depression/ syndromal psychiatric disorder or recurrence of suicidal
ideations"", which is clearly contrary to the definite findings and the final advice recorded in the same Note and which is apparently written under
command influence;
(c) Direct the respondents to subject the applicant to proper psychiatric evaluation and treatment by a independent civil psychiatrist in any Government
higher/ referral hospital/Medical Institute away from Visakhapatanam whether the applicant is currently in a fit mental state to withstand the rigors of
a criminal trial by a Court Martial;
(d) Direct the respondents not to bring the applicant to trial by Court Martial until completion of the psychiatric evaluation and treatment by an
independent civil psychiatrist at any govt. higher/referral hospital/institute away from Visakhapatanam, as prayed for above;
(e) Pass any other order(s) or direction(s) as deemed fit by this Hon'ble Tribunal under the facts and circumstances of the case.
By way of interim order, it is prayed that respondents be directed not to commence the court martial on 18.02.2020 and to hold the same in
abeyance until disposal of the OA.
Counsel for the applicant submits that the applicant who is serving in the rank of Lt Cdr in the Indian Navy and is currently under preventive
custody/ confinement of the respondents on account of being a Psychiatric case is aggrieved by his forceful discharge from the Naval Hospital (INHS
Kalyani) vide Discharge Note dated 30.01.2020 in order to face a Court Martial (CM) which, as communicated vide order dated 30.01.2020, is
scheduled to commence at 0930 hrs on 18,02.2020 at Vishakhapatnam, even though the said Discharge Note says the applicant has to be in close and
constant watch against suicide, thereby clearly indicating that he is not in a fit psychiatric health to face the rigor of a criminal trial by a Court Martial.
Heavy reliance has been placed on the advice given on 30.01.2020 whereby the applicant was ordered to be kept under close and constant watch
against suicide. That being so, it is submitted that the applicant is not in a fit state of mind and is suffering from psychiatric problem, therefore, till the
time, he is re-examined by psychiatrist and is declared fit to face the rigor of Court Martial, the proceedings before the Court Martial should be kept in
abeyance. Reference is also made to Para F of DGAFMS Medical Memorandum which provides as under:-
(f) When a person is placed on charge for an offence and it is suspected that he/she might have suffered or is suffering from a psychiatric
illness, the CO or the Presiding Officer of court martial may seek psychiatric consultation for the person through the AMA. It /s mandatory
for the AMA to refer all such cases to the nearest service psychiatrist. CO of the person will send all documents as per AO 13/2001
(equivalent Navy/Air Force orders) and AFMSF-10 along with the psychiatric referral"".
Per contra, counsel for the respondents referred to the discharge note dated 5.10.2019 and special reference was made to the following
observations:-
31 yrs old serving Naval Officer with about 09 yrs of service initially came to psychiatric attention after he was referred by his AMA where
he had self-reported. During psychiatric evaluation the individual initially complained of sadness of mood, inability to enjoy pleasurable
activities and sleep disturbance of about 02 months duration. A detailed evaluation revealed that despite multiple ongoing personal and
professional stressors he was apparently alright till about two months back when he alleged harassment of his wife and son by Naval
authorities and subsequent denial of leave for taking care of his father who had been recently disagnosed with tuberculosis. He reported to
have started getting irritable over small issues and hence preferred to stay to himself, would think about the situation whenever free and
experienced delayed initiation of sleep. He denied loss of interest in interacting with family or spending time with son and looked forward to
same and showed confidence towards a positive outcome of ongoing investigations on professional front. No h/o predominant pervasive
sadness of mood was present. No h/s/o panic, phobia or obsessive -compulsive symptoms, psychosis or syndromal/ sub-syndromal
psychopathology was present.
Relevant laboratory investigations were normal. Psychometry in the form of MCMI-111 revealed tendency to place oneself in a favourable
and personally appealing light. Although BD1 score of 19 and HAM-D score of 12 were suggestive of mind clinical depression but
Rorschach ink blot test reflected normal emotionality.
Serial MSEs and ward observation revealed stable biodrives and no overt psychopathology. He remained comfortable since admission till
date and did not report any complaints. He was offered mature coping skills training and is currently motivated for mature handling of his
stressors. He is presently psychologically stable and requires no further psychiatric observation or management currently.
Reference is also made to the discharge note dated 30.01.2020. Relevant portion of which are reproduced as under:-
32 yrs old serving Naval Officer with about 10 yrs of service came to psychiatric attention on 23 Jan 20 after he was referred by DMO,
IN/-IS Kalyani where he had selfreported with his younger brother Mr. Madhav Sharma with history of allegedly having got suicidal
thoughts in the morning that day.
Detailed psychiatric evaluation revealed that the individual has had multiple ongoing stressors in the form of investigation and board of
inquiry against him for alleged financial discrepancies in his current unit for past about two years, alleged harassment of family by Naval
authorities and also having got diagnosed with recurrent acute anterior uveitis and recurrent skin lesions (candiditis) erupting during the
same duration. Despite these stressors he was managing well and was confident towards a positive outcome of ongoing investigations and
his health too improving with regular medications. Subsequently he was apparently read out the charge sheet on 10 Jan 20 by his
Commanding Officer which contained about 14-15 charges that too many corruption charges under 1PC and Cr.PC. On hearing the
charge sheet, the individual felt being framed extensively with multiple other charges apart from the ones for which the investigation and
Board of Inquiry had been ordered and also became worried as he had been thinking that he would be tried under the Navy Act, under
which even if he lost, the punishment awarded would not have been as severe as under the IPC and Cr.PC. He also felt that Navy had taken
about two years to prepare a strong case against him, while he would have just about 04 wks to prepare his case without any probability of
request for more time being accepted. With all these worries, he started working on the case along with his lawyer. To prepare his defence
he needed supporting documents from his unit and in the process approached various offices and personnel. The individual perceived no
support from anywhere and was unable to get many documents he needed access to. This further increased his worries that with no support
from unit, preparing a strong defence against such severe charges in such little time would be very difficult. He continued to try and get
needed information and in the process, went to his unit MI room on 22 Jan 20 to verbally get the referral date to INNS Kalyani for his re-
categorization opinion from Orthopaedician and medical specialist in Jan 2017. But he was apparently denied the same by the medical
officer and PM0 and was allegedly humiliated by the Medical Officer leading to an argument with him. He felt very angry at having been
kind of disowned by his completely and felt helpless in the situation and went to his CO to discuss the issue but ended up in an argument
there too at the perceived un-cooperating attitude and denial of help in the matter. Earlier in the day he had been called by the Principal of
his child to discuss the child's deteriorating performance and agitated behaviour having been noted at school. He did try and explain the
ongoing circumstances but felt stressed due to it. Later with the inability to get the much needed information and documents for preparing
his defence fast and time passing and also the complaint from school he felt very overwhelmed but carried on with his case preparation and
went to meet his lawyer at the end of the day. Discussed the case and probable courses of action available and returned home in the night.
At home he had his dinner and was discussing the case with his younger brother and this discussion too ended in an altercation between the
two. Later they decided to work on it in the morning the next day at about 0500 hrs But he put an alarm for 0400 hrs for himself to work on
the sequence of events before others woke up and slept off at about 0000 hrs. In the morning while he was preparing the sequence of
events and reached the Jan 17 part, suddenly the previous day's events came as a flashback and he felt helpless and overwhelmed. He tried
to concentrate further on his work but was then on unable to understand what he was reading. He started feeling very anxious. The anxiety
was associated with choking, sweating and tremulousness. He felt that the unit authorities and higher hierarchy were being vindictive
towards him and then suddenly allegedly thought that ""main ye sab khatam karta hun and allegedly took out his dog's leash from a
cupboard in the room he was in and tied it to the fan. But then suddenly remembered his father and realised what he was doing was
incorrect and gave up the thought. He then soon woke up his brother and told him about the incidence. He later reported to DMO, INHS
Kalyani with his brother at about 0530 hers, After initial evaluation a psychiatric referral was made. As per the brother, on being woken up
he had found his brother crying and found the leash hanging from the fan in the reading room. He reported that his brother had been
looking very stressed after coming home in the night and corroborated the altercations in the day and subsequently between them both. He
was given a Tab Clonazepam 0.5 mg in the MI room.
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Rorschach ink blot test revealed intact reality orientation.
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The officer although presented with symptoms suggestive of a panic attack and alleged suicidal ideas and on initial evaluation was found to
have helplessness and some hopelessness in the background of ongoing legal problems, but longitudinal evaluation revealed no objective
evidence of psychopathological depression/syndromal psychiatric disorder or recurrence of suicidal ideations. He is adopting adaptive
coping skills and has adequate family support.
Relying upon this discharge note, it is submitted that the applicant is not suffering from any psychiatric problem and both the reports reflects that he
himself reported to the Hospital authorities. It is submitted that the charges levelled against the applicant are very serious in nature. In order to avoid
the Court Martial, the applicant is adopting this delaying tactics and therefore, there is no merit in the OA and same is liable to be dismissed.
A perusal of the relief clause as referred above goes to show that the applicant has prayed for setting aside the discharge note issued by the
psychiatrist. Discharge notes are prepared by the specialist in the field of psychiatry. There are umpteem numbers of judgments of Hon'ble Supreme
Court to the effect that opinion given by the doctor should not be brushed aside lightly.
8, Civil Appeal 1837/2009- Union of India & Anr versus Ravinder Kumar was a case where the applicant was granted disability pension taking the
view that he got the ailment which was attributable to Army service. Feeling aggrieved, Union of India preferred SLP before the Hon'ble Supreme
Court. By referring to number of judgments, it was observed that it is settled legal preposition that opinion of the Medical Board should be given
primacy and Court should not grant such pension brushing aside the opinion of the Medical Board. This is for the reason that Medical Board is a
specialised authority composed of expert medical doctors and it is a final authority to give opinion. Such medical opinion given by an Expert body must
be given due weight, value and grades. Observing this, the appeal filed by the Union of India was allowed.
9.Although, in Ravinder Kumar's case (supra) Hon'ble Supreme Court was considering the opinion of the Medical Board pertaining to a case of
disability pension. However, the ratio decidendi of that case is squarely applicable to the present case. Merely on the basis of the advice that ""close
and constant watch against suicide is required"", no cogent ground has been alleged in the OA to show that the findings are contrary which warrants
interference. In any case, there are inbuilt safeguards for protecting the rights of the individual and the applicant himself has relied upon the medical
Memorandum which provides that when a person is placed on charge for an offence and it is suspected that he might have suffered or is suffering
from a psychiatric illness, the Commanding Officer or the Presiding Officer of Court Martial may seek psychiatrist consultation for the person through
the AMA. It is mandatory for the AMA to refer all such cases to the nearest service psychiatrist. In case the applicant feels that he is still suffering
from any psychiatric illness, it will be open to him to move appropriate application before the Presiding Officer of Court Martial and in case such an
application is moved, we hope and trust that such an application will be considered by the Presiding Officer of Court Martial in accordance with law.
With these observations, OA stands disposed off at the stage of admission itself.
Copy of the order be given dasti to both the parties.