Bhadrak: It has been almost 60 years that Odia jawan of Indian Army, Anand Patri is being languishing in a prison in Pakistan. He was detained as a war prisoner in Kot-Lakpat Central Jail in Lahore after the 1965 India-Pakistan war.
Despite repeated efforts of his family members, Anand could not be release till now. The process for his release has been initiated again. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has directed the secretary of the Union Home Ministry to take appropriate steps in this regard. Also, Anand's family has been directed to take the help of national human rights activist and Supreme Court lawyer Radhakant Tripathi if needed.
Born in 1928, Anand's native house is in Kalyani village under Dhamnagar police station of Odisha's Bhadrak district. He was recruited in Indian Army through Indian Army Recruitment Centre Gokhale Road in Kolkata. Later, he was appointed as a jawan in the 31 Bengal Engineering Regiment of the Indian Army. He was part of the wars against China and Pakistan in 1962 and 1965
On February 7, 2003, Anand's photograph was published in the newspaper by the Home Department stating that he was in Pakistan jail. But the High Commissioner of India in Islamabad said his name was "Naseem Gopal". As Nasim (Anand) lost his mental stability, more information could not be gathered about him.
Seeing the photograph, the villagers and Anand's son Vidyadhar Patri, who is a priest and lives in Kolkata, recognised him. Vidyadhar went to the office of "Diganta", a social welfare organisation in Kolkata and informed Utpal Roy, a member of the West Bengal State Consumer Protection Council and General Editor of the International Human Rights Council. Following which, on February 5, 2004, Utpal sent a request letter to the secretary and director of the Odisha State Soldiers Board and the deputy secretary of the Odisha Home Department for the release of Anand Patri .
Vidyadhar and Utpal met the then foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee and foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon. They also met Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and many dignitaries and informed about this. They also informed the then Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Anwar Burney, when he had come to Chandigarh in Punjab on an official visit. Later, Vidyadhar met Pakistan's Special Envoy Hamid Ansari Parani and requested for his father's extradition as per the prisoner of war policy and was promised that Anand will be handed over at the Wagah border.
On November 12, 2006, Odisha CM sent a request letter to Pranab Mukherjee to facilitate Anand's release from Pakistan jail. On December 20, 2006, the then Joint Secretary (Pakistan Division) of the Ministry of External Affairs and the CM informed Utpal Roy to go to the Wagah border to fetch him.
Following which, Utpal Roy went to the Wagah border with Vidyadhar. Although the Pakistani government had released many Indian prisoners or war, Anand Patri was not among them. The Pakistani government wanted to release Anand as an Indian citizen prisoner but not as a prisoner of war. This is because, according to the Geneva Act, no country is allowed to detain any "prisoner of war" for more than 12 years. The Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad did not accept Anand Patri as a prisoner of war. Since that day, Anand Patri has not been released from Pakistan Jail .
However, as Anand has suffered untold torture, mental pain and suffering in Pakistan jail since 1965, there is a general demand to release him as a "prisoner of war" as soon as possible. Administrative officers of the state government and OSS K. Ravi Kumar, Under Secretary through a letter dated August 3, 2023 requested the Joint Secretary, Department of Defence, Government of India, Praktan Sevadhadi to provide details regarding Anand and take necessary action.
National human rights activist and lawyer Radhakant Tripathi filed a case in the NHRC in 2020 and the commission ordered the External Affairs Department on January 20, 2021 to take action within eight weeks. However, due to no progress in the case, Tripathi filed another case in NHRC in 2023 and the commission in its judgment issued the above order to the secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The NHRC heard the case on March 8, 2024 and instructed the Secretary, Union Home Ministry, to inform about the steps taken in this regard by April 15, 2024. Anand's family members hope that following the order, he would return home. Vidyadhar, who was seven years old when his father left for the war is hoping to finally see his father.
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