Kerala High Court allows Navy investigating officers to act as prosecutors

The Kerala High Court has ruled that an investigating officer in a Navy case can also be appointed as the prosecutor during a court-martial. A Division Bench consisting of Justice K. Natarajan and Justice Johnson John held that Navy Regulations do not prohibit this arrangement and that such an appointment does not inherently violate the right to a fair trial under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The ruling comes in response to appeals involving Santosh Karwade, a naval officer with 31 years of service. Karwade challenged the proceedings, arguing that having the same officer serve as both investigator and prosecutor contradicted basic principles of criminal law. The case also involved a challenge to Regulation 178(3) of the Navy (Discipline and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations, 1965, which allows a prosecutor to be a competent witness.