Bangalore, April 29: Flying Officer Anjali Gupta has termed silly, trivial and meaningless the seven charges listed against her by the Indian Air Force and made public for the first time today at the general court martial.

Group Captain V. Ganesh, the presiding officer, read out the chargesheet after rejecting Gupta?s plea for a fortnight?s break to engage a civil lawyer. Ganesh said Gupta could summon a defence counsel any time but declined to adjourn the court on this ground.

Court-martialled personnel are represented by a defending officer ? the armed forces? officer arguing their case.

The court martial was adjourned till Monday, when the prosecution will reply to the objections placed by Gupta through her defending officer, Wing Commander Vijay Bhupesh.

The flying officer pointed out that the IAF had earlier served three chargesheets on her. The first, served in October 2004, listed seven charges. The second, on February 6, 2005, repeated the allegations, while the third, on February 21, 2005, listed 15 charges.

Gupta has been accused of claiming Rs 1,080 as allowance for travelling on five days in March 2004 from the IAF?s training command to the training college and back. Both the places are in Bangalore. The flying officer said her bills had been approved by at least three senior accounts officers at the training command headquarters. All of them, including Group Captain Ajay Masson, the senior personnel staff officer of the training command, ought to be cross-examined, she said.

Other charges include false claims of having travelled by Rajdhani Express from Bangalore to Delhi, throwing on the floor breakfast being prepared for a group captain and missing physical training and morning briefings.

Gupta said a court martial on such charges will send ?alarming signals? to the younger generation and discourage women from joining the air force.