New Delhi: Army is contemplating serious judicial action in the wake of reports that troops posted at Siachen Glacier, the world's highest battlefield, may have faked encounter with the enemy to register false killings to claim bravery awards.

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"A court of inquiry has been carried out after the faked encounters have come to light and irregularities have been seen to have been committed," an Army spokesman said today (May 7, 2004), reacting to media reports.

The spokesman said, "Misrepresentation seems to have been committed by the top battalion commanders and judicial action would be taken."

He did not elaborate claiming the matter was subjudice. The spokesman said that action would be taken against whosoever was found guilty of "committing these grave irregularities".

According to media reports, a young major of the Gorkha Rifles battalion, presently doing a tenure in the Glacier had given an Army court of inquiry, specific details of fake killings made by his company. The alleged fraud was carried out between July and November 2003 in which some of the units took videos to show fake killings in an obvious move to claim awards and citations for imagined gallantry.

Though the Army spokesman did not give details of the number of such fake killings, according to Army figures, 46 enemy soldiers have been reported killed during this period in the Glacier area.

However, there are no incidents reported after November 2003, when ceasefire came into force for the first time in the Glacier area after 1984.