Mother of Army officer missing for 23 years moves SC for directions to govt to seek his release from Pak jail

The mother of an Army man who went missing twenty-three years ago from Gujarat's Rann of Kutchh has approached the Supreme Court seeking his release from a jail in Pakistan.

Captain Sanjit Bhattacharjee's mother has sought a direction from the Court to the Central government to immediately act upon her request.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde issued notice in the matter. While doing so, the Court asked advocate Saurabh Mishra, appearing for the petitioner, to make a list of all such similarly placed Army men who went missing and could not be traced, Bar & Bench reported.

The petitioner, Kamla Bhattacharjee, stated that over the past twenty-three years, she has neither been given any opportunity to state her case before the appropriate authority, nor was her son allowed to communicate with his family members.

During the intervening night on April 19, 1997, Captain Sanjit went out to patrol with other members at the India-Pakistan border in the Rann of Kutch.

However, the next day, only 15 platoon members returned. Captain Sanjit and Lance Naik Ram Bahadur Thapa went missing under suspicious circumstances. It was later found that Captain Sanjit was jailed in Pakistan.

The plea said that Captain Sanjit's fundamental rights under Article 20 and 22 of the Constitution were violated on the account of being illegally detained in the Pakistan jail, especially in the absence of any case registered against him.

The plea has sought directions to the Centre to take immediate steps for his search and release from Pakistan jail.