THE INDIAN SOLDIER – HONOURED BY THE PUBLIC BUT DESPISED BY THE COPS

THE INDIAN SOLDIER – HONOURED BY THE PUBLIC BUT DESPISED BY THE COPS

By

V K Singh

A recent news report described the arrest of an ex-soldier who was found carrying ‘sensitive’ military documents which he intended to hand over to his ISI handler. The documents found in his possession were two training manuals from the Bengal Engineering Group at Roorkee. He was arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police under the Official Secrets Act. Since the documents were defence related, he faces a fourteen year prison term if convicted.

          The news item was accompanied by a photograph showing the arrested man flanked by two pot bellied cops with wide grins. One would imagine that their glee was justified – after all they had caught a spy. Perhaps they were looking forward to the celebration they would have in the evening, with chicken tikka and a bottle of whisky. With a fat reward from the department – it is reported to be three lac rupees for every spy they catch – and maybe even a promotion, a celebration was definitely called for.

          Training manuals are issued to trainees in all military training establishments. The one found in their possession pertained to ‘combat engineering’. In all likelihood, they dealt with drills for laying and removing mines, constructing obstacles, carrying out demolitions, manning a water point or some such activity.  They would contain ‘sensitive’ information such as who would be carrying the pick axe, or laying out the tape, or driving the nails. Copies of such manuals can be found with the raddi wala in every military station which has a training establishment, since most students just throw them away when the course ends. It appears strange that the ISI was ready to pay a pay a large sum of money  for the manuals, which could easily have been obtained for a pittance. In all probability, the Pakistan Army has identical training manuals.

         

Today, students from friendly foreign countries are trained in almost all major military training establishments in India. They are given copies of the training manuals, like the Indian students. Can they still be treated as classified? I recall an interesting incident that took place almost thirty five years ago. I was doing a course at the School of Signals in Mhow. There were two officers from an African country doing the course. One of the radio sets that was in the curriculum was had recently been imported from UK, and was considered ‘classified’. When the class for the particular set was held, the two foreign officers were asked to go to the library. After the class, when we reached the mess for lunch, we found them in the bar, drinking beer. They asked me what I had learned during the last three periods. When I gave a non-committal reply, one of them laughed and said, “You know, I have done a six months course in the factory in UK where this set is manufactured. In case any of your instructors have some doubts, they can ask me.”

Of course, the ex soldier had no business carrying the training manuals and deserves to be punished. But does he deserve to be labelled a spy? Are the documents so sensitive that their disclosure to an enemy country will jeopardise national security? Is this not another example of the obsession with secrecy that seems to have pervaded our psyche? Is there a chance that the monetary reward and promotion spurs our policemen to create spies if they can’t find one?

There is another angle to the story that is often overlooked. Traditionally, the man in khaki has been envious, if not down right jealous of the man in olive greens. During the British Raj, the soldier was pampered with several privileges that were not available to others. The government looked after his every need, be it food, accommodation, clothing, transport or medical treatment; his salary and pension were immune from attachments by courts; he did not pay tolls and tariffs; he had priority in litigation; he could buy almost everything at subsidised rates through the canteen; and many others. Most of these privileges still exist, and are the source of envy to those serving in police or para military forces, who complain, often not without justification, that sometimes their duties are as arduous as those performed by soldiers. The discrimination rankles, and sometimes manifests itself in conflict between the two forces. If a cop gets a chance to nab a soldier, whatever his crime, he does it with relish.

Many instances of soldiers being implicated in false cases have occurred in the recent past, the most well known being that of Captain BK Subba Rao, a retired Naval officer and a brilliant scientist. In 1988 he was arrested by the Police while he was trying to board a flight at Bombay with documents said to be containing atomic and defence secrets.  He was branded a spy and charged under the Official Secrets Act and the Atomic Energy Act. In fact, all he was carrying was copy of his thesis, for which he had already been awarded a Phd by IIT Bomaby. . It was five years before he was exonerated, spending 20 months in jail, during which he was tortured to extract a confession. When he was finally acquitted by the Bombay High court, it passed severe strictures on the Police and the public prosecutors for filing false affidavits and misleading the court.

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