PALAMPUR, July 26:It has been a long wait for justice for the parents of Captain Saurabh Kalia, who was martyred during the Kargil War in 1999 in Jammu and Kashmir, who was tortured to death while held as a prisoner of war.
It has been 14 years since their son was captured by the Pakistani Army in 1999. After weeks of torture, they handed over his mutilated body to India.
The Kargil hero’s father N K Kalia and mother Vijaya Kalia, who settled here, had moved the Supreme Court last December for referring their son’s torture to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Since then, they are awaiting the Indian Government’s reply on their plea.
Acting on their petition, the Supreme Court issued notice to the Government on December 14 and gave it 10 weeks to respond but the Centre is yet to do so.
Counsel Arvind Kumar Sharma, who is based in Delhi, said the case is likely to be listed for hearing in August.
A two-member bench of the apex court comprising Justices R M Lodha and Anil R Dave issued notice after the court was informed that the victim’s family had approached the Defence Ministry seeking that the matter be referred to the ICJ as their son’s treatment violated the ‘Geneva Convention’.
“We have approached the Defence Ministry a number of times to pursue the case appropriately with Pakistan and UN authorities, but we have failed to get any response. Now, our hopes to get justice rest on the Government’s assurance to the court,” said Mr Kalia, who retired as a senior scientist from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
The soldier’s father said they only want the people behind the gruesome murder to be identified and punished so that in future no Indian soldier undergoes the same fate.
Capt Saurabh of the 4 Jat Regiment was the first Army officer to report the incursion by the Pakistani Army on Indian soil.
Saurabh and five other soldiers – Arjun Ram, Bhanwar Lal Bagaria, Bhika Ram, Moola Ram and Naresh Singh – were patrolling the Bajrang Post in the Kaksar sector of J&K when they were taken captive by Pakistani troops on May 15, 1999.
They were tortured for weeks before being killed.
Their mutilated bodies were handed over to India on June 9, 1999.
“Since an individual cannot move the International Court of Justice, we are seeking directions to the Indian Government to move the international court,” Mr Kalia added.
The apex court, while listening to the petition, initially had reservations in entertaining it on account of the scope of its jurisdiction to pass orders on an issue that involves two sovereign countries.
In a poser, the court asked “Can a court issue a mandamus in a matter like this is a question. They (ICJ) are created by treaties where both states’ (countries) consent is required.
“We know the facts of the case. But can the court ask Union of India to take the matter to ICJ? We tag this matter with another matter as it involves the question of a very wide rectification internationally.”
Underlining that ‘Being the highest court we have to pass order within the four corners of the Constitution’, the court said, “We need to first pass this hurdle as to the extent to which we can pass order. We do feel it requires some serious determination of the question of law.”
India lost 527 soldiers and Pakistan upwards of 700 in the Kargil conflict. (UNI)
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