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Rath�s family to fight for justice

By Raju Das

SHILLONG, Jan 23 � Standing firmly behind Lt. Gen PK Rath, who was stripped off his seniority by an Army court here, his family today said they would fight for his case till justice was done.

�We stand firmly behind Lt. Gen. PK Rath as family members. We will definitely not rest till justice is done,� Rath's brother, Pratap Kumar Rath said.

The General Court Martial (GCM) yesterday found Rath guilty of favouring a realtor, Dilip Agarwal Geetanjali Educational Trust to build an educational institute on a 70-acre plot adjacent to the Sukna military station in West Bengal.

The court stripped him of his seniority and pension benefits after finding him guilty on three counts. �He has served the nation. We have nothing to feel bad about him,� Rath�s family said pledging to fight on for his behalf.

They said that first the verdict needs to be studied in detail and then a decision can be taken whether the order can be challenged at the Armed Forces Tribunal, the apex appellate authority of the armed forces in the country.

�Let us first see the verdict in detail and then we will decide on it,� Rath�s counsel Major SS Pandey said.

The prosecution counsel Raghavendra Jha, however, feels that Rath got off with a lenient punishment. �Exemplary punishment should have been given after he was found guilty of moral turpitude,� Jha said.

Rath�s trial went on for eight months at the 58 Gorkha Training Centre here. On October 20 last, the AFT had rejected Rath�s plea seeking the quashing of charges levelled against him in the Sukna land scam.

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