alf past noon on

September 14,2009,
a team of Manipur
PoliceCommandos
(I,IPC) burst into
Imphal's Tulihal Ai.porr and
auested Jiien Yumnam.T\vo
men grabbedhim tightly as a
group of heavilllarmed com-
mandoscoveredthemin a circle.
They held his head down and
forcedhin into a policevehicle.
His crime?Yumnam,i2, an
-"nvironmental andhumanrights
campaignerhad beendernand-
ing an inquiryinto the kilting of
tlvo peopleby MPC on July 23,
2009.I ,hat pur hin in trouble
werehis enailsro international
human rights monirors such
as Amnestl International.The
policechargedhim s-ith leakins
our sraie secretsto eneml In
custodi"he lvasceriainthat rhe
authoritiesrveredeterminedto
silencehim.
"I still faii to rinderstand how
was I bookedund€rthe official

rt*h"
SecretsAct. I had just written
an open letter to humanrighrs
organisationsabour a fake
encounterin my state,,, slid
Yumnam."\ ,'henI cameto knorv
that I'm chargedwjth spying,r
wasdevastated.,, After a yearof
court arglmenrsandmasspro-
tests,andlvhenrhe govemm€nt
realisedthatthecasewouldlead
to senousembarrassment, he

Yunnam is one ofthe nany

victims of rhe Official Secrets
l Act, India'santi-espionage iaw
! inheritedfron British raj. rhe

I TERVIEW/MAJ,
Iawmakesit acriminaloffenceto dis-
closeant'thingthe government calls
secret, and anyone canDe
.n official
arrested and, 1{ convicted,impris-
onedforup lo 14years
"I rvasvirtually PickeduP tuom
the sueet and declareda traitor,"
said Yumnam.A day after he was
rfrested,he said,hewastakento the
policeheadquarters
blindfolded into
and$'asthrown
an undergrouno
cell."I was given electricshocksin
Il1vsenitalsandapoliceofiicerpui a
pistolon my headandthreatened to
kill mel'he said.
As per th€ union home mrnrs-
try records,395 PeoPlehave been
bookedandlodgedin variousprisons
underthe OSAin the Past10-\'ears'
onkar
Hone ninistry spokesPerson
Kedia,however,saidihe oSA cases
are beinginvestigatedby the state
and'thetol3lnumbel
governments
registefed
of cases andrhetrumber.or
convictionssecured arenot cenirally
The National Crlme Records
Bureaualsohasno Pan-Indianfig'
uresonthepeopl€arrested underth€
Act andthe convictions."We haveno
recordson the oSAcases," saidAlok
KumarVerma,chie{ offi'
statistical
cerofNCRS.
of{icial
THEwEEKhasunearthed
and court recordsrhatshed light on
themisuseofthe oSA,andheardthe
storiesof those ho lverewronglY
jailed for years HavaldarSabhajit
Yadav,one of th€m, was arrested
with GirijashankerPande-v,afomer
Naq'sailotin DelhionMav14'2000
R&AW
IOINTsECRETARY
GEN.(RETD)V K' SINGH'FORMER
victimof ll*1ff"::iT"^l*:*iJf,:il'i
I became
vendetta:h?.'l*.'
personal ;:::ii:::tillfr:ili
*"'
i"T;';;e"il:,:i"'e"-l''^
N:i:t::1ilil:l5ill,lH:';
i*11i*l*""..x :"1)
"-x:::,"I;ll"::',;:"1;il.:'" 2o0r''o''eoi whichI
liiiili)"a - ai*r"j","]r\jnsrc artic'e'-ir ,oinm) bookAtthe
:;;;; ;;;i ""v "r*i "r,ri"i' hae rchrred llrv
e"en reti-emeltthe'e lime of its formrl relea'eon
irii.".i
"orh. "lier *.',"?i:,,991,,Ta:"#iH:il*l
a""".,""a,'
"."
'Ji:l";:,T';::lii:ffi[1Tli rabre
ii .,ira"a
xi**i"l;;,';;s
'ile of r\e mini"$)or
i'"rr' o"iitr,r.i i;. u""k lrdjds on-Iheweb
ii;ti;;t;:y;i:i';T:ff ;[:";
l;H,T-"i,t"ff
si"ffi
rrai'ins web'ile Ir
.r'ri*J -,rr ' r'; --. "iviol3ting Per$rnelandrhe
;:3;-.;'. f ,an"acke;Augusr 200a cBI l'erdirsbien-
";;"" ar visvanBhavan
i'iiiiro"'0"",:.,"a. ," ar inrer- nialconhrerce
ii{:}f";;i6t';q:ry;l:l'ri',i#l
:T;::;'ff:*#ll:l#T"""
'""''" "",it,r'"",igr*
30.ff'cer"
,bo,,r :il:,lll;";.
'r "f
deci'ior'the
ir'"i v",r toot oinaaw ': recenr
[,rliuringvousuit'trouute? cenrralIrfo'mationcommi"ionha
Jifl';'l'"?il;:
;"il: fii:;:',,.*ffJ
1111"":";";***":I
authorities While I s'asin R&Al : I
noticedseveralaberrations suchas
accountabilitv
indiscipline,lack of
andcoiruptior. The professional'
ism and pride that one assoctates
with a premierorganisation w-€re
anomalres
absent.I felt that these
shouldbe conected andthis would
or ] happeni{theY$'erebro'rghito
thenoticeofthe public ln fact ihe
most impoftant issuethat I wanted
to raise was cofruption. Dunng
my stut I noticed a few casesin
R&AW aswell asthe S?G,where
eduipmentappear€dto hav€been
Drocuredfrom foreignvendorsat
;xorbitant Pricesor without the
ma atory securitychecks'
Wh.l ar€lhe chargesthal havebeen
levelledagainstrou?
Tlte main chargesagainstme are
that I hav€ giv€n the charter of
Loudythis{etAlajotGeneral(retd)
V.K.Sinsh
 secretaq, postedto R8L{wfr om200I
to 2008.So,the aronynityofR&AW
officeis is a mlth.
It is cammon knowledge that
R&AW officers ere postedin foreign
countries. ThelocationofR&AWsta-
tions in lndia is alsoknown to ven-
dorswho afe giventurn-key proj ects
for instailationot equipment,suchas
VSATterminals.
lrany saythrt if no actlonwestaken
agaiBt ttou,it wouldhav. en.ou.:ged
otherdlsaflectedoffi.€rsto $rite .bout
intelllSenc€ agencie3?
Not all officen who wrir€ booksa.e
disaffected.Peoplelike Sankaran
Nair [forrn€r R&AW chief], T.S.R.
Submm:dan former cabinetse€re-
uryl and cen€ral (rctd) VP. Malik
Folmef Anny chiefl hadreachedth€
top of their professions.They can
hardly be considercddisaffect€d.
Recenily,an official history of MI,6,
the British intelligenceagency, was
published.Thereare severalbooks
written by officers who haveserred
in the CIA. Srch books{orm a part
ofhistory As you are aware,in 2OO8
a gag order was issuedthrough a ing but the car was neverfound.A
gazefte,accordingtovhich all offi- fe\i'months after the caseagainstme
cers seNjng h such agencieswill was initiated,I cam€to know that
havero give!n underrakiry that they somepeopleiB R&AWwere trying to
will not write anlthing after retirc- locatethe personwho hadbeenrny
ment. If they do, the officer will for- orde.iy at that time. They plennedro
feir his pension.I believethe DoPT pay him a larg€ sum, and get him to
hasaskedthe defenceministeralso state that the car iras not stolenbut
topublishasimilar gazettefof armed hadbeensoldby me.
forcespersonnel.If that happens, They also tried to plant do€u-
soontherewill beno Indianmilitary ments on me. I remembera few
rveeksbeforemy hone was raided
Therear. a .ospl6 of looks writtq by on Sept€mber 2l,2o0Z a personby
form€rintelllgenc. otfl.lab, ihcluding the name of Shakii?rakashcalled
oneby B, namanfforrnarhe.d ol th€ me up. He saidthat he hadreadmy
counter.terrorisndlvisionof R&AWI bookandthat hewasbeingharassed
that lt.uses tfor'|er Prim6Mlnbterl by R&AW as he was being forced
naiiv Gandhiof irfh€ncing th. gofors to becomear agent.I told him that
probe. The autbors w€re n.vet I hadrctired Bndhad rothing to do
lialassed. with R&AWnov, but h€ pleaded{or
The other autbors,suchasRaman, a meeting.I alongwith an Army col-
SankaranNair and former IB joint league,who had aisobeenwith me
directorlMaloyDh3r,were;nsiders, in R&A\i: met him at USI Library
who knowmuchmorcthanwhatthey in Delhi. He harded over to n1ea
havewritten. If ihey arc prosecut€d, bunchof papersandaskedmeto go
they will revealmanythinsswhich throughthem andadvisehim whatto
wolld be evenmore embarrassing.I do.The folderhadlettersaddressed
wasan outsidet andthus no threat to the President, primeMinistersnd
to them. I b€camethe victim of a manyothers,complainingof harass-
persomlvendetta. In my booL I had ment by R&Atl I brought the folder
mentionedthe namesof manyoffi' home and foryot ali about it. Later
cersh R&Aw who were inefficient whenthe CBI Bided my housethey
andinvolvedir corruption.Ihadalso took away the folder and produced
mentioneda se or ofiic€rwho did it in court wh€n they opposedmy
not attendoffice for eight months pleafor anticipalorybail.I still don't
after beingoverlookedfor promo- know whether ShaktiPrakrshwas
tion. ThoughI havenoi mentioned a plant, or a genuine suffercr at the
hisnamein theboob it wascommon handsofR&a^r
knowledgethai the nan wasAshok Howcasyls it for intellig.ncergen<ies
Chaturvedi,who later becamethe to wronglyInplicatea percon?
R&AWchi€l I am told he wasturi- Veryeasy.The Sambaspy€aseis a
ousat th€ mentionof this incident perfect example.Innocent people
in the book.He andhis numbertwo, spent 14 years in jail on cherges
SanjivTripatli, wereinstrunenialin trumped up by military intelli-
launchingthe caseagainstme. gence.More r€cently,CaptainB.K.
Areyoulayingthat therew6rem.ny Subbaraoand Iftikar ceelaniwere
attemplsto haEssard itnpllcateyou? similarlyprcsecuted andlateracquit-
Yes, there were. while I was in ted. Unlike the famousDrc,fus case
R&AW,I had beengiven a Maruti in France,where the personswho
cat without a driver, to commute.I hadfalselyimplicatedhin werepun-
was then stayingat RK Puram.One ished,inlndiathisneverhappens. On
night the c5I wasstolenfiom outside th€ other hsnd, they get out-of-tum
my flat.I lodgedsn FIRnext morn- promotions3nd nonetary awards.
YadavwasbrandedanInter-Servic€s May 25, 2002 They vere accused
Intelligence operative andaccused of of giving naps of military instal-
passing 'sensitive information'to a lations to a Pakislaniagent.]n iis
Pakistaniagentin Kathmandu. chargesheet, the policeclaimedthar
The chargesheet, however had they $ere arresied ai SubhashPafk
nothingaboutthedocuments he was in old Delhi, but Rizvi's wile
all€ged to hav€ canied and nothing Munalvara sultan, told THE
was producedb€forethe court.He \\T,EX that they were anested
!-as not allowedto speakin court, at Hoiel Romana in Old Delhi.
andif he did the policetorturedhim Inthe caseo{ Brig.ujjal Dasglpta, Dastigir, after spending a year ir
After spendingeightyearsin Tihar director (computers), Research and jail, was acquitled by a Delhi couri
Jail,Yadav,alongvlth Pandey, was Anabsis wing, who r' as atested on Rizviis siill in TiharJailfacingtrial.
acquifted by Deihi'sTis Hazaricourt Julylq 2006for allesed\'passinson "He [Rizvi] and Dastisirwere ir
on January28,2009. informationto aUs embas- Delhi to publishhis book Nrndz€t
sensitiv€
The court slammed the policefor sy employeeu'orkingundercover for .Rdsool.We don't knolv whY th€i
{allingto provethe chargesagainst the CIA, the policeareyet to frame werearested,"saidMunas'ara.She
him and said eventhe date andtime the charges. After four yearsinjail, said it was perhapsh€r husband's
ofthe arrestwere givenwrong "If hewasreleased on baillastmonth. visit to ?akistan{hich broughtt!€
the accused personsw€renot arrest- An examinationof the OSAfiles trouble.The Partirionhadseparat€i
edonthedateandtime asclaimedby shows that the border stat€sare Rizvi'sfamily.['hile he stayedbact
theprosecutlon, theallegedrccoveryprimetargets.NlolnuddinRizvi,62, in India,histq'osistersandabroth€:
from them becomesdoubt{u],"said a former officer in Uttar Pradesh mlgratedto Pakistan. In 2006,said:
the court. Nobody, howevel was public works departmenq and his family m€mber, he visited Karachirc
punishedfor wronsly jailins then sonGhulamDastigirlverearrested attendthe lastritesof hisbrother.
for eight years. on chargesofespionage in Delhion Accordingto thepolice,Rizvican.
 i n r o u c hs
r h r L e t S t d u r i r Bh - t , r r d c t i v i , i r d r o
r h ep a l
a g e n c ya s l e dn i m t o $ o r k f o r t h e r n .
I o o r h e p o , r c e d o F " r t r J e r h ed,n ,
o "r r' T
neh oe oar-L-ee.. rd,rnoen I r d b \ \ h r c h
d u r t _ o - . rryL e d c c J s e c r
w e r e . r r e 5 l e d . I rd o e sr o r n e , . r : o
I r L e \ e L i c r en u r r b e r s
-1.- ,."q ly,r" po,icein rLeope-rio I -nrt,
ii 1"..coLrr..Fa:
*e pot:ce v o.h dens
:o';::.rhl a i d d e h n c e c o L r&ii
r n e ^ d a r e o l a r - c . r . " .lo.ulo ..tR.S.Sonj.(r
Jr i\
'll" .,1 vj,end""f.-m3rappeared
,-,.1
oerore 1"thel" l"
Tis Hazaricourt ".ncial andconfirmedtharrne oate
orarresrwasoverwriften. .,l/ryqrestionjs
ifRizvj andhis
drr:r,ego'r \13\2s,.200_ i,o r.on1e rheporice
::" li:ie confeslion
goriherr on May 2+?,,askedSonr
Deo.rrJ , onr i..;onerRa:r, B\dsr,.u no
._^^11:':l:'
rs Lrer- | potce\Dote.oer.on. rersedroS"\ederai.. ofrLe
*rf ,l""e ha.,o ares,iono D,anr,
::l.ll:-.:t:,.",
e'iderLeasair.tanvbodj. I
;;;,;;,;;;; f;
<DFcr,rc jF o.Tdr;on. ".,,",i .pec- ir inecor,
\ F p-oouce,,
herarct.,.Theverdicrisin rhehand"ofcourr.,, ,
rul dnardpT3oren.tO..r, rM er { a" dr
.
rnpnar potrreLlder rh. Osc on ".!edbt , he
S.pre.be 14,206qA
yea|ate . tte gore.nrrenrretedced
niT .r,rdu i hdreu
:r-e-ld:e_1A :rrdir:.orriFrr 3ro -o{ .Life-,n8 ron
.,l,l;"9.. oi ro\ e .elr of 3 .i18! boo)
:"::"1'--:l hrdj 'lli
Darl ror_ rote:r.ir i, ande nrajo-one
Jr:r-l':::,rdorm rie
is e, ro resdinLi. dbi,in ro spe,rk.
, , / ( u r d :a:e
' s r r p ? c tIr c e
i r i n , r j r . i r r et a 2 tb J i r sJ s e
_aoDee.trrr_red
ri,trle re ror'.rar parld.r- ,rln
2uur-Ane, lh,ar,heAcr bFcdre3Lco "c\ on
dingro a fo.mer
' - (el,Bence oficiri.ar aboni.ation.wft,r u a. irrer.oerl
*,." *!9. . u a. beirgJ.edrga,n.peo.
^:11:-:i:,.
:i11liere.u'e,cbn morer.ru
award.
:r,o2
. o 1 . f o . . , , n 3 , r e . , . Il"
a d d e d , " ,h ""n". ;;;.".,.,""
w J s c r . e . . w e F - e g i , r e r e dr r a ";.p,., AutoLPGfromIndianOil
l e a r a f r e rr \ e p d f , r a , n e ,
anack. , d ; r I r h e o . l e a 8 a i 1 . ,D e t L i _ b a . e d,
I ' t r a r u_ene. l a n i v. L o $ d , j a r r e d i . r n 3 ,, r
for at ror a lear.
J h e . , r r e . . a , r dr r i a r ,i I L h eO s c c a s e ." ;
. ou r srrl
Irg,l. .r r-D3ne.r.Theacc".eddrebro
r s n .o . ^ r r I n
r e a \) . e c . r j n c o \e r I , rc o u n .a I p r o " e e d
n e . a r eh e t di n Eco.oniat,
c J . e - 8 . I h e F \r d e n c e3 , r e k e p ,; i e . n r ; t e d . _ * , Efi.r.nr . Eco.Fn.ndty. s,r.
d n d a f e r A e d i s " l o , e o. o * . a * , n * " a p " . n _ i " a " ) -
e r . o L r . ^ r i ' e p o l i c eh a w u . e d h a n d - d r , r r n . r < e r , . e , For more intormaton visit wwwioct.com
o i q - n J c d r r o n r e n , .J s e \ i d er c ea g r ' i . r
r h e3 c c l . e d .
r n e r . r r g 1 J r goe c h a r g ^ n . e r s a r d
c o n f e . s i o - a t. , a r e _
 mentsoften read similar as if thev per publishedthe storyihenext
were s-ritten by the samePerson,"
saidSup.emeCourtla$1'erBal$'ant Threeyearsali€r a CaI inter
sinsh Bilowria,who has handled nalprobetofind out howthedoc
manyOSAcases. umentwaslealed,Saikiawasbooked
BilorvriamentioNthe sketches of under the oSA. After ten yearsof
'the Meerutcantonment, whichhave le8alfight, a Delhi court acquitted
beenusedin differentcasesagainst him on February26,2009.The courr
different people in differentparts of said,'the publication of the disin
the count{..on May 2z yet anoth- vestmentdocunent$'asunlikelyto
er person,chand Kunar Prasad,a affectthe sovereignty and integrit"v
24-year-old aircraftmechanicin lhe oflndia andthat rhe publicationof
Nav]'sAircraftMaintenance unit in a documentmerelylabelled'secret'
Murnbai,wasarrestedfor allesedly shall not render a journalist liable
canying a bunch of 'secret'docu' under the OSA."It $,asthe biggest
mentsthat includedphotographs of mental tortureto appearbeforethe
lvleerut.He rsno\\'ln llnarJa . court every month for ten years,"
Anongthosecallingfor a revielv saidSaikia."it all happened just for
o{the Act is formerPresidentA.P.J. agenuinestory"
Abdul Kalam.In the I990s,ts'o of nessand that chief netropolitan The comp;tingneedsfor secrec)
hisfriends,spacescientists S.N8nbi magistratehad convictedher with' andthe public\ right to knolv have
Narayananand D. Sasikunaran, outassessingwhether ahedocunents long poseda dilenma for the gov-
werewronglybookedundertheoSA thatthe policeclaimedtoha\.e recov- e lnents. Though at times rhe gov-
for beingpart of a spy ring. Union eredfronherwerelikelyto affectihe ernment has allolvedintelligence
La\,1lulnlsrerveerappa lvrolry, as securitvand integrit-v
o{lndia. She officersto write bookson theirwork
headofthe Adninistrative Reforns had denied that any document \r'as and the agencies, includingone b,r
rrlrmestranged former headof the counter-terror
comnission, has recommended recoveredfron her.
that the oSA shouldbe repealed ftom my husbandfor the past 20 isn division of R&AWB.Ranan that
and safeguards to protectthe secu- years.After my arfesttherewas no accuses RajivGandhiofcoverinsup
riry ofstateshouldbe incorporated oneto takecar€ofmy chlldren.They the Boforsprobe,oftenit goesaflel
in the National security Ac.. The 'ere left $.ith no optionbut to fetch thosevho speakabout the secret
home ministq.,ho!-ever,doesnot foodfromtemple,"shesaid. $'orld.Forner joint secretaryof the
agreewith the recommendations. Preeti's
story shows holv attimes R&A$/,xrajor General(retd) v.K.
An inter-ministerial group is stud). the osA curbs freedon of press. singh\ book,rndiat t.lf€rndl nrtel
Evenin civil and financial affairs, ligenc€ Secretsotthe R€sedfcfi&
The nost disturbingpart of the the Act resirictscoverage ofimpor- AndiJsislvrn& exposedcorruptior
oSA, said Delhi-basedjournalisi tant issues.A scooplandedformer anda seriesofabusesin the agenc]:
Preetisinsh (nane chansed), is thar FinancialExpressreporterSantanu Three months aftef the book l'as
anyperson canbedetainedunderiiif Saikia in trouble.He got a Union published,Sineht house$as raided
it is proventhathe hadbeenin touch cabinetnoteon divestmentof pub- andhe wasbookedunderihe osA.
wjth a {oreigner.Herselfavictiln of lic sectorenterprisesa day before "Thereareseniorintelligence o{fi-
the Act, Preetistill doesnoi know the cabinet meeting. The newspa chls ivho have written on the R&Al
'\r-h)'shewas arested and detained andlhe IB. In their booksthey have
for morethan three years. "My only given evenoperations'details.TheI
cdme wasthat I \a'asajoumalist who {'ere neler touched,"saidsingh."I
u'aswriting on Nepal.I usedto fre becanevictimof !ersonalvendeita."
quentthe Nepalembassy[in Delhi] Theironvisd1atu'hi1eSinghisfacjng
andperhapsrhaaisthereasonlcame trial,hisbookis available in India
under the scannerof intelligence Clearly it is not al$'aysthe sensi'
agencies andwasdubbeda spy,"she aive issues ofnational security thar
said.TheDelhiHighCourtacquitted nake the authorities angtl socia.
her ofall charges but theprosecution activistMedhaPatkarwas arrestec
hasgonein app€alto the supreme for sayingthat the Gujaratgol€rn-
Court. ment $'asquietlyraisingtheheighi
In Preeti'scasethe High Court of the sardar Sarolar dam, whicL
saidthat the prosecution hadrelied wouldendangerthe honesandlive-
mainlyon the statementofone wit- Iihood of people]i!hg in the sur-
 yours
Secretly
Even $itlin tle defence estab-
Eiirhment thereseemsto be a
kind of ambiguity aboutciassifica-
tion of information. THx IVEEK,
under the RTI, soughtfrom the
defenceministry the details of the
s-eathefcasualtiesin Ladakh in
Jammuand Kashmir.The Na?Y,in
awritten r€plt saidthatthere were
no Navaloftcers andsailo.spost'
ed jn Ladakh.The Air Sorcegav-"
a detailedyear wise reply f.om
2004 to 2009 and said that two
o$icers and eight personnelbelow
officer lank died in Ladakh rhe
Armt howevet re{usedto Pro-
videthe details.h a letter it said,
"Information soughtby you ar€
classifiedin natur€andproviding
srch infornation wiu prejudicial
lsicl aff€ct the secudty and sover-
eigntyofthe Army andthe state."
Saida ser.ringArmy doctof,"we
alsowonderwhy this is classiEed
we lthe A]mt'l provide detailsard
ainual figrres aboutthe dealhof
soldiers in counter-instrgency
operationsand evenabourfratri-
cide andsuicide.Thenhow.ome
the information aboui weatiler
casualties
in Ladakl is classified:'
For him, like manyothersin the
Arny MedicalCoips,th€ problem
is that if an]'oneof them is found The othef docunent,
in possession of documents related thepoiicehadcleinedto haverecov-
to deaihsandinjuriesof soldiersin
Ladakhhe couldbebookedunder
rheosA.
roundingvillages.Shewasimnedi-
atelybooked undertheosA for leaL-
i11g'state secrets'to the public.The
government. howe\.er, succumbed to
publicpressure andreleased her
"we launcheda canpaignagainst
the SardarSafovardamin 1988. The
cujarat governmentnotified the
dan site as prohiblted area under
the oSA. Ir was a draconianordef.
we did a uniqueprotestagainstthe
Act. we chose14people,sy bolis-
Raisinsquestions:ActivktMedhoPoIkatwasa(estedfat savinsthat theGuiarat
savemnent Saravat
wasquietlynisinqtheheishtof theSardar dan
ing the maximumnumberof-vears The MumbaiHiSh court acqult-
ofpunishnen! underthe osA, and tedhin of a1lchafses,andtheverdicl
marchedto ards the pfohibited vas upheldb) the supremecourl
dan site,"saidPatkar."The OSAis a "It is not that everyscrapor paper
coloniallalvthatprotects thegovern or everydocumentrelatingto those
ment from the public." authoritiesis to be classified,ani
It tookDrB.K. Subbarao, aretired evenjf a classification is put dowt
captainof the Naq', fi\.et€ars of legal suchclassification ma),not hold lor
fighttopf overhatthe'top-secretdoc-all time and that ii is basicdutv oi
umert' of India'snuclearsubnarhe theprosecu.ion
to pojntout how th.
foundin his suitcase rvasin fact his disclosuf e of these documents woulc
own PhD thesisat the IIT Bonba\r be athreat to the securit-v ofthe coun_
he said,!'hich
Subbarao hasspentthe Pastnrc
eredfron him, was available in the decades cam!aiclritlg for .hosewhc
libfary He $'asjailedfor 20 months were wronsly arrestedand jailed
on charges of espioiage. "Somanyinnocentpeoplehale bee!
wronglyanestedandjailedunderthi''
Act. Yetnot a singlegovernmentoffi'
cial or policenanhasbeenpunish€.
fof rujningsonebod-v's life,"he said
For Yllmnalq rvho is nnrried an.
has a rrvo year-old daughter life hai
begun afresh after his release fror
jail. Yet the dark memories of thi
torture cell and espionage charg-<
haunt him. "I'n stil1traumalisea
Er€rl time I seea copI shiver\vir
fear,"he said."It is not easyto bt
calleda foreignagent,a traitor,an:
then havea normallifel'l