The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought the government’s response to a plea made by a woman whose husband, like many other Army personnel, are prisoners in Pakistan since the 1971 war.
A Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud gave the Centre three weeks to reply to Jasbir Kaur, who argued that, like everyone, these prisoners of war (POWs) too have their fundamental right to life and dignity.
Ms. Kaur, who is the wife of Major Kanwaljit Singh, said the government should have ideally gone to the International Court of Justice to secure the prisoners’ release from the “torturous custody of Pakistan in violation of the Geneva Convention for Treatment of Prisoners of War”.
The plea also sought a direction to the Centre to produce the court of inquiry proceedings, if held under the mandatory provisions of Army Rules, into the circumstances leading to the capture, torture and murder of Captain Saurabh Kalia by Pakistan during the Kargil war.
Advocate Namit Saxena, appearing for the petitioner Ms. Kaur, contended that very little has been done on the issue of the POWs over the past 50 years.
The plea sought a direction to the Centre for taking initiative aimed at setting up a domestic as well as an international mechanism for effectively enforcing the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Convention for Treatment of Prisoners of War.
It said that the PIL was necessitated by the circumstances as admittedly 54 PoWs were “evidenced and heard to be held under the torturous detention” of the Pakistan government since the 1971 war.
The plea also urged the court to direct the Centre to procure the list of POWs from the International Red Cross.
