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| Samba spy gets Rs 5 lakh relief | | | ABID SHAH | 9/22/2009 11:06:17 PM |
| NEW DELHI, Sept 22: About nine years ago, Mr Bhogal Ram, a resident of Samba district, was received with open arms by the Indian side at Wagha Border.
He had spent seven years in Central Jail, Multan, in Pakistan after being convicted for spying for India.
After serving seven years in jail, Pakistan Rangers handed him over to Indian Border Security Force officials as a part of an exchange programme of prisoners between India and Pakistan.
His return was welcomed by Indian officials and he was garlanded, with warm handshakes and profuse greetings.
Yet, soon Mr Bhogal Ram’s services to the country were forgotten and he was left to his fate.
He approached officials in Jammu seeking compensation in the wake of abysmal circumstances his home and family had lapsed into because of his 12-year-long as he went on `Mission Multan’ that was followed by his arrest and imprisonment under Pakistani law. As succour did not seem coming in Jammu, Mr Bhogal Ram landed up in Delhi over a year ago to seek justice. He moved the Delhi High Court. And his long ordeal was over last Friday (September 18) when Mr Justice Sanjiv Khanna awarded Rs 5 lakh as compensation in favour of Mr Bhogal Ram, to be paid by the Ministry of Defence.
His young lawyer, Mr Sushant Sharma, expressed vindication on the part of his client and the services he rendered for the country after the compensation awarded by the court.
Yet, he says that he took up the case of Mr Bhogal Ram since one of his senior colleagues had once pleaded a similar case of an alleged spy whose services were treated with officials’ contempt on his return. But the compensation in that case was a more substantial Rs 8 lakh.
Thus, Mr Sharma feels that it can well be said that Mr Bhogal Ram got than what he deserved. This is more so since Mr Ram underwent brutal torture while in custody in Pakistan. He was put in fetters and chains by the authorities over there. On his return too, none listened to him. He was shooed away by officials in Jammu who also threatened him with arrest.
Despite his being inducted, trained and initiated into the shadowy world of intelligence gathering on a salary of Rs 2,500 per month, way back in 1988, the officials forgot his contribution and inputs. He took up work in the prime age rather as a youth in his twenties, spent seven years in a Pakistani jail and suffered indifference and apathy of officials back home except that for a few years. In between, his father, Mr Mangala Ram, was given as assistance of Rs 300 per month, said the lawyer.
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