SC to hear Army officer’s mom on his repatriation from Pak jail

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a plea filed by the mother of an Army officer seeking direction to the Centre to take immediate steps through diplomatic channel for repatriation of her son, who is lodged in jail in Pakistan for last over 23 years.

A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde issued notice and sought response from the Centre on the petition filed by 81-year-old Kamla Bhattacharjee, mother of Captain Sanjit Bhattacharjee, seeking directions to the authorities to intervene in the case on an urgent humanitarian basis.

The plea said the petitioner had received information that Sanjit, who was commissioned as an officer of Gorkha Rifles Regiment of Indian Army in August 1992, was lodged in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail.

The petitioner said that her family was informed in April 1997 that her son, who had gone for patrolling duty at night time on a joint border in Gujarat’s Rann of Kutch, was apprehended by the Pakistan authorities while carrying out operation reconnaissance along the international borders on April 20.

The petitioner’s son in the span of the past 23 years has not been allowed to state his case before the appropriate authority or allowed to communicate with his family members, said the plea, filed through advocate Saurabh Mishra.

It said in April 2004, the petitioner’s family received a letter from the Ministry of Defence stating that Sanjit was presumed to be dead.

The plea said the petitioner later received a letter dated May 31, 2010 from a Major General,

who was the then military secretary to the President, which informed that Sanjit’s name had been added to the existing missing prisoners of war (POWs) list.

It said the petitioner was informed that the issue of missing defence personnel was taken up with Pakistani authorities several times at the highest level, including during the Agra summit in July 2001, but the officials of Pakistan had informed that Sanjit could not be traced.

The petitioner’s family awaits the return of Capt. Sanjit till date. The petitioner’s husband died on November 28, 2020, after waiting for his son for the past 23 years. The petitioner herself at 81 in her old age is yearning for one sight of her son, the plea said.

The petitioner’s son in the span of the past 23 years has not been allowed to state his case before the appropriate authority or allowed to communicate with his family members, said the plea