With Delhi High Court issuing notice to the Centre on the demand for declassification of the Samba spy case, the 45-year-old scandal in which more than 50 army officials and jawans were acquitted, may see fresh twist and turns. The Delhi High Court has issued notice to Defence Ministry and Army Chief on the petition filed by retired officers, who were falsely implicated, seeking declassification of the entire files of the Samba spy case.
The Samba spy case came into light with the arrest of two jawans who were arrested for allegedly spying for Pakistan in 1975 from the army unit in Samba in Jammu. The case was handed over to Military Intelligence, and based on the depositions of the two jawans, 168 officers starting from the unit head Brigadier to jawans in the unit was terminated and many were convicted upto 14 years.
Later one of the jawan caught for spying confessed that he falsely gave deposition, while the other jawan was shot dead while trying to cross the border in mid 80s. The Intelligence Bureau’s investigation panel later found that the case was totally false and officers were tortured and falsely implicated. The intelligence panel was formed as per the orders of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Though the Army officers were found innocent in mid 90s, their demands for justice and giving back the lost prestige were not delivered. The officers accused the Governments for scuttling their fight for justice in courts by providing sealed covers and not declaring the Intelligence Bureau’s panel report which found the spy case was false one.
Many Army officers now in their age of 70s and 80s went up to Supreme Court to get justice and their prestige back, many times during the arguments, the Defence Ministry and Intelligence Bureau submitted details in sealed covers and their cases were dismissed. Appearing for the petitioners former Captains Ashok Kumar Rana and Ranbir Singh Rathaur, Advocate Pranav Sachdeva argued that Defence Ministry and Army should declassify the documents on Samba spy scandal, which was later found to be a false case.
Advocate Sachdeva said they tried every legal recourse available to prove their innocence but all to no avail as the materials of the charges and subsequent court martial proceedings against them were never properly and fully disclosed either to them or to the court. Justice Vibhu Bakhru noted the petitioner’s contention regarding how long the documents can be kept classified. The judge asked the Centre to respond to the question raised in the plea regarding declassification of the files.
Advocate Sachdeva argued that all major democracies, including the United State of America and several European countries, declassify documents after passage of a specified time or a specified event. The High Court in its recent Order asked Defence Ministry and Army to respond within six weeks and the next hearing of the case is posted for Spetember 3.
