UP: Army jawan missing for 14 months, high court seeks details from military police

BAREILLY: In a case of a 23-year-old missing Army jawan, who was last seen on July 28, 2018 and an FIR has been lodged at Cantt police station, the father of the missing jawan Updesh Singh approached the Allahabad high court after there was no progress in the matter. The HC treated the complaint as habeas corpus ordering the commanding officer of military police to provide all necessary details with regard to missing jawan, Rajat Singh, on the next hearing on October 14.A bench comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Vivek Varma took up the matter on October 2 after receiving a letter from Updesh Singh in which he stated that while serving at 28 Punjab Regiment, Pithoragarh, Rajat was “illegally deputed” with Colonel AK Dubey (now retired) in Bareilly and had been missing since 28 July 2018 from the headquarters, Uttar Bharat Area, officers’ mess in Bareilly.“My son was posted in Pithoragarh with his unit but he was transferred to officers’ mess in Bareilly and attached with a colonel of 23 Punjab Regiment. After some days of his disappearance, we got a phone call from his unit in Pithoragarh about a headless body found near railway track and some photographs of the body shared on WhatsApp. We didn’t find it to be Rajat’s body since he has a fair complexion and strong build unlike the body’s appearance,” the jawan’s father Updesh Singh told TOI from their native town Hoshiarpur in Punjab.When contacted, cantonment station house officer Avinash Yadav said that they were instructed to lodge a complaint this year following which an FIR under section 364 (kidnapping in order to murder) against unknown person was registered on July 17, 2019.The SHO said that their investigation hit a roadblock since military police stopped cooperating despite being sent three reminders to the commanding officer requesting permission to interrogate jawan Balwant Singh, who happened to be buddy of the missing jawan, and was seen with him minutes before his disappearance. A buddy is a partner assigned to a soldier who is expected to assist his or her partner both in and out of combat.Contrary to the police’s claim, an Army officer on the condition of anonymity said that in response to the SHO’s letter they had asked them to give them a date at least 15 days in advance so that they could inform Balwant Singh’s unit – 23 Punjab regiment – for his safe movement from the station he is posted currently.Rajat’s father said that they learnt that Balwant Singh was posted in Eastern Command, somewhere in Assam.He also alleged that the then commanding officer of 28 Punjab regiment, Col Naveen Rajan, didn’t lodge any FIR on its own when his son went missing.“We are aware of the incident and police are probing the case. As the matter is now sub judice, we cannot comment on that,” said colonel SS Phogat of the administrative command of UB Area.