A day after his conviction in an Army Court Martial in the Sukna land case, the family of Lieutenant General Prashant Kumar Rath on Sunday vowed to stand by him and 'ensure justice'.
"We will not rest till justice is done. We will stand by Rath and whatever we can do, we will do," Rath's brother Pratap Kumar Rath said after the court pronounced the sentence. Asked if he would challenge it in the Armed Forces Tribunal, Rath's counsel, Major SS Pandey said, "We will have to see the verdict in detail first."
Prosecution counsel Raghavendra Jha, however, said the punishment given by the court was "too less". "As per the Army Act, his (Rath's) punishment should have been severe considering his service condition and his status as a Corps Commander," Jha told PTI on Sunday.
The Army Court Martial on Saturday ordered a two year seniority loss, 15 years of loss of service for pension and issued a severe reprimand for former Deputy Chief of Army Staff-designate Lt Gen PK Rath for procedural lapses in the Sukna land scam.
The court martial had found Lt Gen Rath's action, conveying an NoC for the residential school adjacent to Sukna Military Station and entering into an MoU with a private party without taking approval from the Eastern Army Command headquarter, was prejudicial to good order and military discipline.
The court martial had found Lt Gen Rath's action, conveying an NoC for the residential school adjacent to Sukna Military Station and entering into an MoU with a private party without taking approval from the Eastern Army Command headquarter, was prejudicial to good order and military discipline.