Written by Man Aman Singh ChhinaChandigarh | September 28, 2025 01:24 PM IST 4 min readThe Bombay High Court ruled that the officers cannot face criminal proceedings after being tried under the Army Act. (File Photo)The Mumbai High Court has quashed the prosecution sanction accorded by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) against two Army officers of the rank of Lt Colonel in an eight-year-old case of the death of an Army officer’s child.The judgement by the division bench in Goa, uploaded in public domain on September 25, quashed the prosecution sanction, granted under Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), to prosecute Lt Col Umesh Kanadikar and Lt Col Gurinder Singh Uppal of the Corps of Engineers. They were to face trial before a criminal court in Goa under Section 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code, along with a few civilians.The writ petitions filed by the two officers challenging their prosecution revolved around an incident on April 6, 2017, when a child aged four-and-a-half years, son of Lt Col Narendra R Taralkar and Surgeon Lt Commander Trishna Taralkar, fell from the 6th floor of the newly constructed Married Accommodation Project-II, at the naval officers’ accommodation in Goa.The incident resulted in the filing of a case at the Vasco police station on the complaint filed by the headquarters of Goa naval area against Naresh Kumar Garg, chairman, and Pradeep Kumar Garg, managing director of NKG Infrastructure Ltd, New Delhi. They were accused of failure to take proper care and safety while constructing the said building, leading to the death of the minor boy falling from the sixth floor, along with the window grill, which was not properly fixed by screws to the wall.A complaint filed by Commander Sterly George, Deputy Naval Provost Marshal, Goa naval area headquarters, invoked Section 304A of IPC against the accused, the office bearers of NKG Infrastructure. During the course of the investigation, three more people were arraigned as accused, and upon completion of the investigations, a chargesheet was filed, which was pending trial.Meanwhile, both Army officers were tried under Section 69 of the Army Act, read with Section 304A of the IPC, by a general court martial (GCM). The court martial ended when a ‘plea of jurisdiction’ raised under Army Rule 51 was allowed by the GCM in respect of both officers.Speaking to The Indian Express, Brigadier Janesh Khera (retd), counsel for the two officers, said that as per the provisions of Army Rules, the authorities were permitted to convene another court martial, which, in this case, was not done because the trial became barred by a period of limitation. Later, the MoD granted sanction under Section 197 of the CrPC to prosecute both Army officers before a criminal court.Story continues below this adThe two officers filed petitions to quash the MoD sanction, stating it was an abuse of the process of law. Brigadier Khera argued that once the competent authority had exercised the option under Section 125 of the Army Act to try the officers by GCM and the GCM did assemble, but allowed the plea of jurisdiction under Army Rule 51, under the scheme of the Army Act, no provision exists to hand over the case back to the criminal court for prosecution.The high court observed that once an option of court martial is exercised, then the said proceedings must be taken to a logical conclusion. It found that the special plea to the jurisdiction has been allowed by the court martial by a reasoned order and even communicated to the convening authority, who did not convene another GCM for the trial of the accused, and the fault entirely lies with the Army authorities under the Army Act and the Rules.The high court held that the army officers cannot again be subjected to criminal proceedings for the civil offence, as they were subjected to a general court, and their plea of jurisdiction under Rule 51 was admitted. The High Court declared that the petitioners cannot be subjected to the process initiated pursuant to the registration of the FIR at the Vasco police station.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd