3 senior Navy officers face court martial in INS Betwa case

NEW DELHI: Three senior

Navy

officers are now facing a

general court martial

(GCM) for their alleged negligence that led to a major accident of front-line warship INS Betwa at the

Mumbai naval dockyard

, which killed two sailors and injured 14 others, in December 2016.


The GCM against the Captain (equivalent to an Army Colonel) of the 3,850-tonne guided-missile frigate INS Betwa and two Commanders (Lt-Cols), one from the engineering branch and other from the dockyard, began last Friday after the board of inquiry (BoI) found them prima facie guilty.

The Brahmaputra-class frigate had "slipped from her dock blocks", tilted and then crashed flat on her left (port) side while being undocked during a maintenance refit on December 5, 2016. The warship was heavily damaged when it tipped over, with at least 25% flooding in its compartments, in the unprecedented mishap.

"The Navy had decided to take strict action against any personnel found guilty of lapses. The three officers indicted by the BoI will have every chance to defend themselves during the court martial or trial, which is being headed by a Commodore," said an officer.