Washington-based National Institute of Military Justice confers fellowships on two Indians

Advocate Navdeep Singh and jurist Professor Shruti Bedi have been conferred fellowships by Washington DC-based non-profit, the National Institute of Military Justice (NIMJ).

Navdeep Singh is an advocate at the Punjab & Haryana High Court and also the founder President of the Armed Forces Tribunal Bar Association at Chandigarh. He is very actively involved in issues relating to soldiers’ rights and tribunalisation.

Singh is also a former Major of the Indian Army and has been a national service volunteer-reservist with the Territorial Army in the past. He has voluntarily served in counter-insurgency and operational areas during the vacation period of the High Court.

He was a part of a High-Level Committee of Experts in 2015 set up by the Defence Minister, based on a sentiment expressed by the Prime Minister for reducing and curbing litigation initiated by the Ministry of Defence against its employees and former employees, and for improving the system of grievance redressal.

He was also a part of the historic Yale Draft conceptualised at the Yale Law School, an improvement of the existing United Nations document on administration of justice through military tribunals.

Professor Bedi teaches at the University Institute of Legal Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh. She is also the Director of the Centre for Constitution and Public Policy at the University. Her areas of research are constitutional law, counter-terrorism law and comparative public law.

While Singh has been made an International Fellow for his excellence and contribution to constitutional and military law, the fellowship has been conferred upon Professor Bedi for similar excellence and contribution to constitutional and criminal law.

Prof Bedi and Major Singh have remained active in the legal field, research, and military reform, and have authored many books.

“March to Justice: Global Military Law Landmarks” and “Arrest and Detention in India: Law, Procedure and Practice” were books released last month and edited by Singh and Prof Bedi respectively.

The NIMJ is an American non-profit organization, founded in 1991, dedicated to the fair administration of justice in the armed forces and improved public understanding of military justice.