New Delhi, April 16: The case of the first lady officer in the army to be court-martialled has thrown up a legal quandary — not because of her gender but because of her office. Major Dimple Singla is a legal officer who has been a judge advocate herself.

Her case begs the question: who will judge the military judge?

The officer is currently under “close arrest” — meaning she is confined but not handcuffed — in Chandigarh. A five-member general court martial (GCM) took up the case against her last week.

She was with the judge advocate general’s (JAG) department — the army’s judicial wing — when a court of inqu-iry found prima facie evidence that she was seeking a bribe from an accused in another ge-neral court martial in which she was the judge advocate.

But while the higher judiciary in civilian courts has a self-imposed code of conduct, there is no mechanism in the army for internal scrutiny. At the Army Headquarters in New Delhi, where the case is being keenly followed, there is confusion on whether military lawyers — essentially the JAG department — should adopt a practice of self-scrutiny.

In the absence of clear norms, the JAG has taken the unusual step of appointing a judge advocate in Singla’s case from outside the command under which she has been serving. Major Harish K. Mitra from the Jaipur-headquartered South Western Command has been deputed to Chandigarh, headquarters of the Western Command, to be the judge advocate in addition to the five-member court martial.

The court martial was convened by the commander of the Ambala-based 2 Corps, Lt General P.K. Singh.

Ironically, Singla is also being defended by a former JAG officer, Lt Colonel (retired) S.K. Agarwal.

The findings of the court of inquiry and summary of evidence before the general court martial was summoned concluded that Singla asked a soldier for undue favours when she was judge advocate in a case in Dehradun.

Singla’s husband is also a lawyer and practises in Chandigarh.

The court of inquiry found that Singla was asking the soldier (who is not an officer) to appoint her husband’s associate as his lawyer.

On one occasion, it is charged, she also drove the lawyer from Chandigarh to Dehradun to introduce him to the soldier. The soldier is now the primary witness for the prosecution in the case against Singla.

Singla is around 35 years of age and was due to retire from the army in September last year. But the authorities have invoked Section 123 of the Army Act under which a person, even after retiring from service, can be held responsible for acts of omission or commission during tenure.

A general court martial is essentially a disciplinary proceeding. The accused cannot appeal against its sentence to the civil courts but a “writ jurisdiction” remedy pleading that the case is outside the purview of the military court is permissible. After the court martial, Singla can appeal to higher authorities for a waiver of the sentence or a lighter punishment.

The first lady officer in the armed forces, Anjali Gupta, had appealed to the then chief of air staff, Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, against the court martial’s sentence. She was cashiered from the air force last year.