Court pulls up government over missing soldier: Veteran Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal PLS Retd.

Dear Veterans,
Regards. See! How much govt. cares for soldiers while he
is in service?
Court pulls up government over missing soldier
December 16th, 2009 - 9:56 pm ICT by IANS New Delhi :
The Delhi High Court Wednesday pulled up the
government for not being able to get any information
on a missing Indian soldier suspected to be in a Pakistani
jail for the last 44 years.“Your (government) attitude
shows that nobody cares for the soldier. No information
was gained by the government despite so many chances.
It is not done,” said a division bench comprising Chief
Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S.Muralidhar.
The court directed the government to contact the Ministry
of External Affairs and file a status report regarding the
information of Anand Patri by Jan 13.The court warned
the counsel appearing for government that if the status
report was not filed then the defence secretary should be
asked to be present in the court personally on the next
date of hearing.In its earlier report the government
contended that “we have no record of Anand Patri after
1965. Though he took part in 1962 Indo-China conflict
and also in the 1965 India-Pakistan war, but after this,
he has not been traced and his name has not been found
even amongst the prisoners of war of 1965.” However, a
right to information (RTI) query to the external affairs
ministry in 2007 revealed that the Indian High
Commission in Pakistan had been informed that an
Indian national named Naseem Gopal was lodged in a
Pakistani jail. Patri had seen a faded photograph of his
father in an Oriya daily Feb 7, 2003 - 38 years after he
went missing. The photograph, published by the Orissa
government, identified him as Naseem Gopal, an inmate
in a Pakistani jail for almost 40 years. The court was
hearing a public interest litigation filed by human rights
activist Madangopal Khushiram Paul and lawyer Kishor
Paul on behalf of Patri------------
Posted by Indian ExServicemen Movement at 9:43 PM
Veteran Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal PLS Retd.
Mob.098554-09128,Tele-Fax 0175-5000896.