| Jailed in Pak for 16 yrs, Davinder left to fend for himself | | | Gurdas Kumar
Early Times Report
Vijaypur, May 15: After spending over 16 years in Pakistani jail for spying, Davinder Singh (50) of Sanoora village in Samba is fighting a battle for compensation and struggling to make both ends meet.
Davinder served 16 years imprisonment following his arrest on charges of spying in October 1989 in Pakistan. He returned to India from Pakistan in 2005 and lives with his wife and four children (two daughters and two sons) at his village. Now, he had been taking up small jobs in the fields of local villagers to make both ends meet.
"I was arrested on October 20, 1989 in Pakistan. I was convicted for 10 years, but I languished 16 years in Pakistani jail, six years more than the sentence period. l was shifted to various jails, including Ara Bazaar, Kotlakhpat Jail and was brutally tortured. I was finally released on March 17, 2005, after the intervention of then Punjab CM Amarinder Singh. It took me two months to recover from the trauma I underwent in Pakistan jails," Davinder said.
He said, after returning from Pakistan, I wrote to the President of India and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi for compensation. I got a reply from Rashtrpati Bhavan on July 14, 2005, and it was assured that monetary compensation would be provided to me, but nothing happened. Even friends and relatives turned their back. I am living a pauper's life now and need help to take care of my children bringing up them, he said.
Davinder revealed many Indian prisoners had died in Pakistan unsung. Bihari Lal of Sujanpur village in Punjab was brutally beaten to death by Pakistani Jail officials in front of me as he was just demanding bathing soap, Davinder said. |
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