The Hindu : National : Terror suspect draws Government pay

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 10, 2005

National

National

Terror suspect draws Government pay

Praveen Swami

Jan's case, among others, being scrutinised by Chief Minister's staff "Whoever is responsible for this is mocking the martyrdom of men in uniform," says widow of Army Major

SRINAGAR: In defiance of its own service regulations, the Jammu and Kashmir Government has failed to take administrative action against an employee charged with involvement in a 2003 terrorist strike which claimed the life of an Army officer, two Central Reserve Police Force troopers and a Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited employee.

Nazir Ahmad Jan, a Power Development Department engineer, is alleged to have drawn up plans for the terror strike and to have transported the two Pakistani terrorists who executed it to the Indira Nagar Telephone Exchange near Srinagar's Badami Bagh cantonment. Jan was arrested on the basis of disclosures made by Mohammad Imran Chauhan, a Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba operative who survived the attack and was subsequently held by the Jammu and Kashmir Police.

Section 31 of the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Service Conduct Rules states that "a government servant who is detained in custody whether on a criminal charge or otherwise for a period of more than 48 hours shall be deemed to have been suspended by the appointing authority." However, although senior bureaucrats including the former Chief Secretary, Sudhir Bloeria sent up letters asking for his suspension, the alleged terrorist continues to draw his salary and perquisites from the Jammu and Kashmir Government.

Jan is facing trial for his alleged role in the terrorist attack under sections 302, 307 and 436 of the Ranbir Penal Code, the Jammu and Kashmir state equivalent of the Indian Penal Code, as well as Section 25 of the Arms Act. He obtained bail in 2004, after spending several weeks in police and judicial custody. Although the Jammu and Kashmir Government routinely detains terror suspects who obtain bail under controversial preventive detention clauses of the Public Safety Act, it refused to do so in Jan's case.

Earlier this week, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad ordered a full-scale review of the failure of state authorities to use the Public Safety Act against politically influential terror suspects. Sources told The Hindu that over 100 cases, including that of Jan, are being scrutinised by the Chief Minister's staff. However, no action has been taken so far to implement the state's legal obligation to suspend Jan until and if he is cleared of the serious criminal charges pending against him.

Speaking to The Hindu , the wife of the Army officer killed in the Indira Nagar attack said she was "dismayed and horrified" that an individual charged with her husband's murder continued to draw a salary from the Government. "It just goes to show that there is no justice and no concern for the many young men in uniform who are giving their lives each day for our country," Shivani Vats said. "Whosoever is responsible for this is mocking their martyrdom."

Maj. Navneet Vats was 31 when he died in the Indira Nagar attack, leaving behind his wife and a two-and-a-half year old daughter, Inayat Vats. Although Ms. Vats has benefited from the Indian Army's extensive services for the families of personnel killed in the line of duty, her efforts to obtain a Government job have so far been unsuccessful. Families of CRPF personnel killed in counter-terror operations, like those of policemen, are even worse off, since these organisations have only rudimentary support networks.

Like many women widowed by the conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere, Ms. Vats is struggling to rebuild her life in tragic circumstances. Government rules allow her to continue to occupy official accommodation for three years after the death of her husband, but Ms. Vats has been asking for a two-year extension on that deadline. So far, she says, neither the Ministry of Home Affairs nor the Ministry of Defence have responded to the repeated appeals sent by her and other Army widows in similar circumstances.

"We had hoped that Sonia Gandhi, who knows the pain of losing loved ones to terrorist bullets, would do something about our plight," Ms. Vats says, "but we are losing hope."

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National