A military court in India has recommended the dismissal of an Air Force group captain for shooting down an Mi-17 helicopter in “friendly fire” near Srinagar in February 2019.
It should be noted that on February 27, 2019, Pakistan shot down two Indian aircraft along the Kashmir border, and on the same day, an Indian helicopter was also destroyed by the Indian Air Force in ‘friendly fire’.
According to the Hindustan Times’, officers aware of the matter told them that a military court in India has recommended the dismissal of Group Captain Suman Roy Chaudhary over the incident of the Mi-17 helicopter crash.
Group Captain Suman Roy Chaudhary was the Chief Operations Officer of Srinagar Air Base at the time of the incident.
However, the recommendation to dismiss the group captain has not yet been confirmed by the Chief Air Marshal of the Indian Air Force, Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhry.
An officer familiar with the matter told the Indian newspaper that the cases related to the incident of the crash of the Mi-17 helicopter are also pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Courts, and the Indian Air Chief has yet to confirm the dismissal of the Group Captain. The decision to do so is expected after the decisions of the courts.
It should be remembered that in March of this year, a court issued a decision that any decision of the military court, i.e., the general court martial, cannot be implemented until the court disposes of this case.
