Judges in their own cause?

Lt Gen (r) Prakah Menon

Global Military Justice Reform contributor Major (r) Navdeep Singh and the Editor write here in response to an op-ed by a retired general officer. Excerpt:

In his article, General [Prakash] Menon disagrees with an earlier op-ed in which we, the authors of this article, argued for an independent prosecution in military justice, one that would not be connected with the chain of command. General Menon goes on to explain that there is a clear need for “judges” to have “professional insight into the operational environment.” He adds that the “judgement” of such actions is better taken by “commanders”.

This misconceives our position. First, he has treated the prosecution and the judges as a single entity, when these are two completely different things, like chalk and cheese. He further wants Commanders to be judges. All of this is wide of the mark, and is unfathomable in any democracy, including India, which embraces the precious concepts of ‘rule of law’ and ‘separation of powers’. In any case, the members of the court martial in India already are serving military officers.