The Supreme Court has upheld a home ministry appeal that argued the General Assam Rifles Court, a wing of the army, was empowered to try Assam Rifles personnel under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and M.R. Shah set aside the concurrent findings of a single judge and a division bench of Gauhati High Court, which said only a specially designated sessions court, set up under the PC Act, could try armed forces personnel for corruption.

The high court had passed the verdict on an appeal from Ranjit Kumar Saha and another Assam Rifles soldier challenging a trial against them by the General Assam Rifles Court (GARC).

“Any member of the Assam Rifles shall be liable to be tried by the GARC for committing a civil offence, which means an offence which is triable by a criminal court. A ‘criminal court’ means a court of ordinary criminal justice in any part of India,” the apex court ruled.

“We are of the opinion that the GARC has the jurisdiction to try offences under the PC Act against the members of the Assam Rifles.”

The bench passed the verdict while interpreting the provisions of the PC Act and the Assam Rifles Act, 2006.

Saha and the other soldier had been posted in the Assam Rifles headquarters in Kamrup when a contractor, C.C. Mathew, carried out a purported sting. Its footage was telecast by a Malayalam channel and Tehelka in September 2014, alleging corruption in the Assam Rifles.