NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea of the wife of an Indian Army officer seeking repatriation of officers believed to be held under illegal detention as Prisoners of War (PoWs) by Pakistan since the 1971 war.
The petitioner has prayed for directions for taking an initiative aimed at setting up of a domestic as well international mechanism for effectively enforcing the right to life under Article 21 of the universal declaration of human rights and the Geneva Convention for Treatment of Prisoners of War for protection of said rights under all circumstances.
The petitioner has said that her husband Major Kanwaljit Singh has been evidenced and heard to be held under the illegal detention of the government of Pakistan.
“The PIL is necessitated by the circumstances wherein admittedly at least 54 PoWs are evidenced and heard to be still held under the torturous detention of the government of Pakistan since the 1971 war,” the plea said.
The plea filed by advocate Namit Saxena also urged the court to direct the Centre to procure from the International Red Cross the list of PoWs who were scheduled to be repatriated by Pakistan in years succeeding the 1971 war but ultimately "not repatriated as scheduled in the third train of PoWs."
The PIL has talked about four different cases which are pending before the top court including the one of martyr Captain Saurabh Kalia who was killed during the Kargil War along with five other soldiers of the JAT regiment.
“Respondents’ lack of will to ensure observance of Geneva Convention by hostile neighbour Pakistan has led to repeated gross violations of the same again and again, with even more rigour and perpetuity, ultimately leading to the conscience shaking incident of Capt Saurabh Kalia and his men during the Kargil War in 1999,” the plea reads.
"The perpetrators of these heinous crimes of illegal detention and torture of helpless prisoners of war, against the universally applicable Geneva Convention, have not been brought to book till date and nor have the respondents succeeded in release of one single out of the 54 POW, despite existence of a specific bilateral agreement in force between the respondent UI with the detaining power, the government of Pakistan, which is also shielding the perpetrators of crimes against humanity committed upon Captain Saurabh Kalia and his men stated above, besides many other POW/soldiers whose names could not specifically be listed herein," it added.
The plea has also sought for directions to the respondents to "approach the International Court of Justice against Pakistan with appropriate judicial remedies, which are coercive and binding in nature for release of all the Indian PsOW held under the torturous custody of Pakistan in violation of the Geneva Convention for Treatment of Prisoners of War."