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a l f p a s t n o o n o nSeptember4,2009,a teamof ManipurPol iceCommandos(I, IPC) burst intoImphal's Tulihal Ai.porr andauested Jiien Yumnam.T\vomen grabbedhim tightly as agroup of heavilllarmedcom-mandosoveredhem na circle.Theyheld his headdown andforced in into apolice ehicle.His crime?Yumnam,2, an-"nvironmentalndhumanightscampaigner ad beendernand-ing an nquiry nto thekiltingoftlvo people y MPCon July23,2009. ,hatpur hin in troublewerehisenails o nternationalhuman rights monirors suchasAmnestl International.Thepolice harged im s-ith eakinsour sraiesecrets o eneml Incustodi" e vasceriain hat rheauthoritiesveredeterminedosilencehim."I still faii o rinderstandowwas booked ndr he officialSecrets ct. I had ust writtenan open etter o human ighrsorganisations bour a fakeencountern my state,, , l idYumnam. \ ,'hen came o knorvthat I'm charged jth spying,wasdevastated.,,fterayearofcourtarglmenrs ndmass ro-tests, nd vhen hegovemmntrealisedhat hecase ould eadto senous mbarrassment,eYunnam s one ofthe nanyvictimsof rhe OfficialSecretsAct, India'santi-espionageawinherited ron Britishraj. rhe

rt*h"l!

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I TERVIEW/MAJ,EN.RETD) K'SINGH' ORMEROINTsECRETARY&AWIawmakest acriminal ffenceodis-close nt'thinghe governmentalls.n officialsecret, ndanyoneanDearrested nd,1{convicted,mpris-oned orup o 14years"I rvasvirtuallyPickeduP tuomthe sueet and declareda traitor,"saidYumnam.A day after he wasrfrested, esaid, ewas akeno thepolice eadquartersnd$'as hrownbl indfoldednto an undergrounocell. I wasgivenelectric hocksnIl1v enitals ndapolice fiicerpui apistolon my headand hreatenedokill mel'hesaid.As per th union homemrnrs-try records,395PeoPle avebeenbooked ndodgedn various risonsunder he OSA n the Past 0 \'ears'Hone ninistry spokesPersonnkarKedia, owever, aid he oSAcasesarebeing nvestigatedy the stategovernmentsnd' the ol3lnumbelofcasesegistefednd he rumber.orconvictionsecuredrenotcenirally

The National Crlme RecordsBureaualsohasno Pan-Indianig'ures n hepeopl rrestednderhAct and heconvictions. Wehavenorecords n he oSAcases,"aidAlokKumarVerma, hie{statistical ffi'cerofNCRS.THEwEEKhasunearthedf{icialandcourt ecordsrhathed ightonthemisuse ftheoSA,andheardhestoriesof those ho lverewronglYjailed for years HavaldarSabhajitYadav, ne of thm,was arrestedwith Girijashanker ande-v,fomerNaq'sailot n DelhionMav14'2000

Ibecameictim f ll*1ff"::iT"^l*:*iJf,:il'ipersonalendetta:h?.'l*.':::ii::tillfr:iliN:i:t::1ilil:l5ill,lH:';"T;';;e"il:,:i"'e"-l''"'i*11i*l*""..x-x:::,"I;ll"::',;:"1;il.:'"1)l i i i i l i)"a - ai*r"j","]r\jns c artic'e '- iro0r''o''e i which:;;;; ; ; ; i ""v "r*i "r,r i" i ' hae chrredo nm)bookAt he"orh. e"en"l ier ret i -emelt he'e l ime of i ts formrl elea'e n l l rvirii.".i"." """.,""a,'.',"?i:,,991,,Ta:"#iH:il*'Ji:l";:,T';::lii:ffi[1Tlixi**i"l;;,';;si .,i a"aabrei '"rr ' o"i i tr,r. i ;. u""k lrdjds on-Ihe eb ile of r\e mini"$)orii;ti;;t;:y;i:i';T:ffsi"ffi;H,T-"i,t"ff[:";.r'ri*J -,rr ' r'; --. "iviol3ting

Per$rnel nd rai'ins webile Ir;:3;-.; ' . f ";;"" ,an"acke;Augusr00a he BI 'erdrs ien-i ' i i i i ro"'0"",:.,"a. ," ar nrer- nialconhrercervisvan havanii{:}f";;i6t';q:ry;l:l'ri',i#:T;::;'ff:*#ll:l#T""" :il:,lll;";."f bo,,r0ff'cer"'""''" "",it,r'"",igr*ir'"iv",r oot oinaaw 'r ': recenreci'ior'he[,rl iuringvousuit'trouute? cenrralIrfo'mationcommi"ionha1111"":";";***":I"il:fi:;:',,.*ffJifl';'l'"?il;:authoritiesWhile I s'as n R&Al : Inoticed everal berrationsuchasindiscipline,ackof accountabilitvandcoiruptior.Theprofessional'ism andpride hat oneassoctateswith a premierorganisation -reabsent. felt that theseanomalresshouldbeconectedand hiswouldor ] happen{theY$'erero'rghiothenotice fthe public n fact ihemost mpoftant issue hat I wantedto raisewas cofruption. Dunngmy stut I noticeda few casesnR&AW aswell as he S?G,whereeduipment ppeardo havbeenDrocuredrom foreignvendorsat;xorbitant Pricesor without thema atorysecuritychecks'Wh.l ar he chargeshal havebeenlevelled gainstrou?Tlte maincharges gainstme arethat I havgivn he charterofLoud this{etAlajotGeneralretd)V.K. insh

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secretaq,ostedo R8L{w r om200Ito 2008.So, he aronynityofR&AWofficeis is a mlth.It is cammon knowledge hatR&AW officersereposted n foreigncountries. he ocation fR&AW ta-tions n lndia is alsoknown o ven-dors who afegiven urn-keyprojectsfor instailationot equipment, uchasVSAT erminals.lranysay hrt if no actlonwes akenagaiBt ttou, t wouldhav. en.ou.:gedotherdlsaflected ffi.rs o $rite .boutintelllSencgencie3?Not all officen who wrir books a.edisaffected.People ike SankaranNair [forrnrR&AWchief], T.S.R.Submm:dan former cabinetsere-uryl andcenral rctd)VP. MalikFolmef Anny chiefl had reachedhtop of their professions. heycanhardly be considercddisaffectd.Recenily,anofficial history of MI,6,the British ntelligence gency, aspublished. hereareseveral ookswritten by officerswho haveserredin the CIA. Srchbooks orm a partofhistory Asyou areaware, n 2OO8

a gagorder was ssued hrough agazefte, ccordingto hich all offi-cers seNjng h such agencies il lhave ogive n underrakirythat theywill not write anlthing after retirc-ment. f they do, he officer will for-feir hispension. believe he DoPThasasked he defenceministeralsotopublish similagazetteof armedforcespersonnel.f that happens,soon herewill beno ndianmilitaryTherear. a .ospl6 of looks writtq byformr ntelllgenc.tfl.lab, hcludingoneby B, namanforrnar e.d ol thcounter.terrorisndlvisionof R&AWthat t.uses tfor'|er Prim6Mlnbterlnaiiv Gandhi f irfhncing th. goforsprobe.The autborswre n.vetlialassed.The other autbors, uchasRaman,Sankaran air and ormer IB jointdirectorlMaloyDh3r,were nsiders,who know muchmorcthanwhattheyhavewritten. If ihey arcprosecutd,theywill revealmany hinsswhichwolld be evenmore embarrassing.wasan outsidetand hus no threatto them. I bcame he victim of apersoml endetta.n my booL hadmentionedhe names f manyoffi'cersh R&Aw who were nefficientand nvolvedr corruption.I adalsomentioned se or ofiicrwho didnot attendoffice or eight monthsafter beingoverlookedor promo-tion. Though havenoi mentionedhisnamen theboob t was ommonknowledgehai the nan wasAshokChaturvedi,who later becameheR&AWchil I am old he was uri-ousat th mentionof this incidentin the book.He and his number wo,Sanjiv ripatli,were nstrunenialnlaunching he caseagainstme.Areyou aying hat herew6rem.nyattempls o haEssard itnpllcate ou?Yes, here were. while I was inR&AW, hadbeengivena Maruticat without a driver, to commute.was then stayingat RK Puram.Onenight the c5I wasstolen iom outsidemy flat.I lodged n FIRnextmorn-

ing but the car wasnever ound.Afe\i'monthsafter he caseagainstmewas nitiated, cam o know thatsomepeople B R&AWwere rying tolocatehe personwho hadbeen nyorde.iy at that time.Theyplenned opayhim a arg sum,andgethim tostate hat the car iras not stolen buthadbeen oldbyme.They also tried to plant dou-ments on me. I remembera fewrveeks eforemy hone was aidedon Septmberl,2o0Z a person ythe nameof Shakii?rakash alledmeup.He said hat he had eadmybookand hathewasbeing arassedby R&AW ashe was being orcedto becomear agent. told him thatI had ctired Bndhadrothing o dowith R&AW nov, but hpleaded ora meeting. alongwith an Army col-league, ho hadaisobeenwith mein R&A\i: met him at USI Libraryin Delhi. He hardedover to n1eabunchof papers ndaskedme o gothrough hem and advise im whattodo.The olderhad ettersaddressedto thePresident,rimeMinister ndmanyothers,complainingof harass-mentby R&Atl I brought he folderhome and foryot ali about it. Laterwhen heCBI Bided my househeytook awaythe folder and producedit in court whn they opposedmyplea or anticipaloryail. stilldon'tknow whetherShaktiPrakrshwasa plant, or agenuinesuffercr at thehandsofR&a^rHowcasy s it for intellig.nce gen

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Yadav asbranded n nter-ServicsIntelligenceperativendaccusedfpassingsensitiveinformation' o aPakistaniagent n Kathmandu.The chargesheet,owever hadnothingabouttheocumentsewasallgedo havcaniedandnothingwasproduced fore he court.He!-as not allowed o speak n court,and f hedid hepolice ortured imAfterspending ightyearsn TiharJail,Yadav, long lth Pandey, asacquiftedy Deihi's is Hazari ourtonJanuary 8,2009.The courtslammedhe police or{alling o prove he charges gainsthim and saideven he dateand imeofthe arrestweregivenwrong "Ifthe accusedersons renot arrest-edonthedateand imeasclaimedbytheprosecutlon,heallegedrccoveryfrom thembecomes oubt{u]," aidthe court. Nobody,howevel waspunished or wronsly ailins thenfor eightyears.

of giving naps of military instal-lations o a Pakislaniagent. n iischargesheet,he police laimedharthey$ere arresied i Subhash afkin old Delhi, but Rizvi's wile

May 25,2002 They vere accused

Munalvarasultan, told THE\\T,EX that theywere anestedat Hoiel Romanan Old Delhi.Inthecase { Brig.ujjal Dasglpta,director computers),esearchndAnabsiswing, who r' asatested onJuly q 2006 or allesed\'passinsonsensitivnformationo aUs embas-syemployee'orkingundercoverorthe CIA, he policeareyet o framethe charges. fter four yearsnjail,hewas eleasednbail astmonth.An examination f the OSA ilesshows hat the border statsareprime argets.NlolnuddinRizvi,62,a former officer in Uttar Pradeshpublic works departmenqand hissonGhulamDastigirverearrestedon charges fespionagen Delhion

Dastigir, fter spending year rjail,wasacquitled y a Delhi couriRizvi s siill n TiharJail acingrial."He [Rizvi]andDastisirwere rDelhi to publishhisbookNrndzt.Rdsool.We don't knolv whY thiwerearested," aidMunas'ara. hesaid t wasperhapshr husband'svisit to ?akistanhich brought !trouble. hePartirion adseparatiRizvi's amily.'hile he stayed actin India, is q'osisters ndabroth:mlgratedo Pakistan.n 2006, aid:familymmber,evisitedKarachicattend he ast itesof hisbrother.Accordingtohepolice, izvican.

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in rouch rhrLe Stdur i rBh - t , r rdct i v i , i rdro rhepalagency slednim to $ ork for hern." ' T h e a - - e . r , n eI o o r h e p o , r c e d o F " r t r J e r h e ,d n ,or ne oorL . dr on rdb\ \ hrchdurt_o-.ryLedccJsecrwere.r re5led.Irdoes or ne,.r :o rLe eLicre urrbers-1.-i i 1".. ,."q ly,r" po,icen rLeope-r o -nrt,:o';::.rhl coLrr..Fa:lo.uloe pot:ce&ii v o.h densrne^dareolar-c.r . " .a iddehncecoLr. . tR.S.Sonj. ( rJr \,- , .1 " l " l " ' l l " . ,1 ".ncial j ,end"" .-m3r ppearedoerorehe TisHazaricourtandconfirmedhar neoateorarresrwas verwriften.,l/ryqrestionsifRizvjandhis

::" l i : ie drr:r,eg ' r 13\2s,.200_,o .on1e he oricegoriherrconfeslionnMay2+?,, sked onr._ ^11: ' : l : ' Deo.rrJonr i . . ;onerRa:r B\dsr,.u norsLrer-potce Dote. er.on.ersed oS"\ derai . . frLe:: l . l l : - . : t : , ." , *rf , l ""e ha. ,o ares, ion D,anr,Ie' iderLeasair. tanvbodj.". , ," , i ; ; ; , ; ; , ; ; ; ; f ;

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mentsoftenread similar as f thevweres-rittenby the samePerson,"saidSup.eme ourt a$1'er al$'antsinsh Bi lowria,who hashandledmanyOSAcases.BilorvriamentioN he sketchesf'the Meerutcantonment,hichhavebeenused n different ases gainstdifferent eoplen different artsofthe count{..on May2z yet anoth-er person, hand Kunar Prasad,24-year-old ircraftmechanicn lheNav]'sAircraftMaintenancenit inMurnbai,wasarrestedor allesedlycanying a bunch of 'secret'docu'ments hat ncluded hotographsflvleerut. e rsno\\'ln lnarJa .Anongthosecalling or a revielvo{the Act s formerPresidentA.P.J.Abdul Kalam. n the I990s, s'o ofhis riends, pace cientists .N8nbiNarayanan nd D. Sasikunaran,werewrongly ooked ndertheoSAfor beingpart of a spy ring. UnionLa\ ,1ulnlsrer eerappavrolry, sheadofthe AdninistrativeRefornscomnission,has recommendedthat the oSA shouldbe repealedand safeguardso protect he secu-riry ofstateshouldbe ncorporatedin the National securityAc.. Thehome ministq.,ho!-ever,doesnotagreewith the recommendations.An inter-ministerial roup s stud).

The nost disturbingpart of theoSA, said Delhi-basedournalisiPreeti insh(nanechansed),s haranypersonanbe etainedunderiiifit isprovenhathehadbeenn touchwjth a{oreigner. erselfavictilnofthe Act,Preetistill doesnoi know'\r-h)'shewasarested and detainedfor more han hreeyears.My onlycdme was hat I \a'as oumalistwhou'aswriting on Nepal. used o frequent he Nepalembassyin Delhi]andperhapshaaishe easonl ameunder the scannerof intelligenceagenciesndwasdubbed spy," hesaid. heDelhiHighCourtacquittedherofallchargesut heprosecutionhasgone n appal o the supremeCourt.In Preeti'scase he High Courtsaid hat he prosecutionad eliedmainlyon he statement fone wit-

nessand hat chiefnetropol i tanmagistratead convicted erwith'outassessingwhetherhe ocunentsthat hepolice laimedtoha\.eecov-ered ronherwerelikelyto ffectihesecuritvand ntegrit-v {lndia. Shehad denied hat anydocumentr'asrecoveredron her. rlrmestrangedftom my husband or the past20years. ftermy arfest herewasnoone o takecar fmy chlldren. hey'ere left $.ithno optionbut o fetchfood rom emple,"hesaid.Preeti's toryshows olv attimesthe osA curbs reedon of press.Even n civil and inancialaffairs,theAct resiricts overage fimpor-tant ssues. scoop anded ormerFinancialExpresseporterSantanuSaikia in trouble.He got a Unioncabinetnoteon divestment f pub-lic sectorenterprises day beforethe cabinetmeeting.The newspa

perpublishedhestoryihenextThree ears lira CaI internalprobeto ind outhow hedocumentwas ealed,Saikia as ookedunder he oSA. After ten yearsofle8al ight, a Delhi court acquittedhim onFebruary 6,2009. he courr

said, thepubl icat ion f the disinvestment ocunent$'asunlikely oaffect he sovereigntynd ntegrit"voflndia and hat rhepublication fa documentmerely abelledsecret'shall not rendera ournalist iableunder he OSA. It $,as he biggestmental orture o appear efore hecourt every month for ten years,"saidSaikia. it al lhappenedust oragenuinestory"The comp;tingneedsor secrec)and he public\ right to knolvhavelongposeda dilenma for the gov-e lnents. Thoughat times rhe gov-ernmenthas allolved ntelligenceofficerso writebooks n heirworkand he agencies,ncludingone b,rformerheadof the counter-terrorisn divisionof R&AWB. Ranan thataccusesajivGandhi fcoverins ptheBoforsprobe, ften t goes flelthosevho speakabout he secret$'orld.Forner oint secretaryf theR&A$/,xrajor General retd) v.K.singh\ book, ndiat t.lfrndl nrtelligenc Secrets tthe RsedfcfiAndiJsis vrn& exposed orruptioranda series fabusesn the agenc]:Three monthsaftef the book l'aspublished, inehthouse as raidedandhewasbooked nder he osA."There re eniorntelligence{fi-chls ivho havewritten on the R&Aland he IB. In their booksheyhavegivenevenoperations'etails. heI{'ereneler touched," aidsingh. Ibecane ictimof ersonal endeita."The ronv sd1at 'hi1e inghs acjngtrial,hisbook s availablen IndiaClearlyt is not al$'ayshe sensi'aivessues fnationalsecurityharnake the authoritiesangtl socia.activistMedhaPatkarwasarrestecfor saying hat the Gujaratgolrn-ment$'asquietly aisingtheheighiof the sardarSarolardam,whicLwouldendangertheonesand ive-Iihood of people i!hg in the sur-

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SecretlyoursEven $it l in t le defencestab-Ei i rhment there eemso b e akind of ambiguityaboutciassifica-tion of information. THx IVEEK,under the RTI, sought rom thedefenceministry the detailsof thes-eathefcasualtiesn Ladakh nJammuand Kashmir.The Na?Y,nawritten rplt said hatthere wereno Naval ftcersandsailo.s ost'ed n Ladakh.TheAir Sorce av-"a detailedyear wise reply f.om2004 to 2009 and said hat twoo$icersand eightpersonnelbelowofficer ank died n Ladakh rheArmt howevet re{used o Pro-vide he details. a etter t said,"Informationsoughtby you arclassifiedn naturandprovidingsrch infornationwiu prejudiciallsicl affct the secudty and sover-eignty ofthe Army and he state."Saida ser.ringArmy doctof,"wealsowonderwhy this s classiEedwe lthe A]mt'l providedetailsardainual figrresabout he dealhofsoldiers n counter-instrgencyoperations nd evenabour ratri-cideandsuicide. henhow.omethe information aboui weatilercasualtiesn Ladakl s classified:'Forhim, like manyothers n theArny MedicalCoips,h problemis that f an]'one f them s foundin possessionf documentselatedto deaihs nd njuries f soldiersnLadakh e couldbebooked nderrheosA.

Raisinsquestions:ActivktMedhoPoIkatwasa(ested atsavinshat heGuiaratsavemnentas uietly isinqthe eisht f heSardararavatan

rounding illages. hewas mnedi-atelybookedndertheosA for eaL-i11gstatesecrets'o thepublic.Thegovernment.owe\.er,uccumbedopublicpressure nd eleaseder"we launched canpaign gainstthe Sardar afovar am n 1988. hecujarat governmentnotified thedan site asprohibltedareaunderthe oSA. r wasa draconian rdef.we did a uniqueprotestagainstheAct.we chose 4people, y bolis-

ing the maximumnumberof-vearsofpunishnen!under he osA, andmarched o ards he pfohibi teddan site," aidPatkar.TheOSA s acolonialalvthatprotectshegovernment rom hepublic."It tookDrB.K.Subbarao,retiredcaptainof theNaq', i\.e ars of legalfighttopfove hatthe'top-secretdoc-umert' of India's uclear ubnarhefound n his suitcasevas n fact hisownPhD hesisat the IIT Bonba\rThe othefdocunent, e said, 'hichthepoiicehad leined o have ecov-ered ron him,wasavailablen thelibfaryHe $'asailed or 20 monthsonchargesf espioiage.

The MumbaiHiShcourt acqult-tedhin ofa1l haf es, nd heverdiclvas upheldb) the supreme ourl"I t is not that everyscrapor paperor everydocumentelatingo thoseauthoritiess to be classified, nieven f a classificationsput dowtsuchclassificationa), ot hold oral l time and hat ii is basicdutv oitheprosecu.iono pojntouthow h.disclosufof hese ocumentsoulcbea hreat o hesecurit-vfthecoun_

Subbaraoasspent he Pastnrcdecadesam!aiclritlgor .hosewhcwerewronsly arrestedand ailed"Somanynnocent eople alebee!wrongly nested ndailed nderhi''Act. Yetnot a singlegovernment ffi'cialor policenan asbeenpunish.fof rujning onebod-v'sife," esaidForYllmnalq vho s nnrriedan.has a rrvoyear-olddaughter ife haibegunafreshafter his releaserorjail. Yet the dark memories f th itorturecell andespionageharg-