Recovering 15 bodies under heavy fire
By Amarjit Thind
Tribune News Service

CHANDI MANDIR, July 23 — "Losing comrades in action is a heartbreaking feeling but recovering them from battlefield is also a part of a soldier's duty, more so, if you have to accord due honours and decent burial to bodies of enemies as well."

"Recovering bodies from ballefield requires no special experience but one has to have nerves of steel to retrieve them in the face of heavy enemy fire and shelling," says Havildar Sudesh Kumar of 12 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry, who is convalescing at Command Hospital of the Western Command here, following injuries received in Operation Vijay in the Batalik sector.

He recalls the days when he recovered the mortal remains of four soldiers, including that of Capt Amol Kalia, from Point 5203, besides those of 11 others who had made the supreme sacrifice at Point 4812.

Narrating the difficulties faced by his party in retrieving bodies, he said the situation was compounded by the harsh terrain, heavy enemy shelling and firing on his party by the well-entrenched enemy from nearby peaks.

"At Point 5203, the bodies had been lying in the open for many days and earlier attempts to retrieve them had been thwarted in the face of heavy shelling. It was felt that since nearby heights were controlled by infiltrators who could watch our movements, an attempt could not be made in daytime."

"Accordingly, an operation by a select group was planned on June 17, which was to be executed in the night. We were briefed and told that speed and stealth were important, so, the retrieval had to be done within a specified time. Any delay would have endangered the lives of the rescue party."

"We started the ascent, reached the area in time and began collecting the bodies of our soldiers. This also gave us an opportunity to see how valiantly Capt Kalia and his men — Liaquat Ali, Mushtaq Ahmad and Darshan Lal — had fought. We also counted that between them, they had killed nine enemy personnel. The weapons of our men and those of the enemy were also brought down by us."

"We had to peer hard to look for the bodies and distinguish which were ours, since we had to work in almost pitch dark conditions. In a hurry to get back to the base, we even brought back the body of an infiltrator, mistaking him for our own," he recalled.

"The bodies of our men at Point 4812 were also brought down in hostile conditions. Some of the nearby peaks were still occupied by the the enemy but shelling and firing were sporadic and not very accurate. An operation to recover the bodies in daytime was okayed."

"We reached the peak on July 8 and recovered the bodies of our personnel, during the course of which, we came across an infiltrator who was wounded. He was taken into custody. It was at this point that the weary men decided to have some tea. After having tea, they left to make arrangements for carting the bodies to the base camp."

"Meanwhile, I was on a lookout for enemy movements, besides guarding our weapons, when a shell, which landed nearby, triggered a landslide and a boulder landed on me, crushing my right arm. Others saved me but regretfully, I who had ducked enemy fire to retrieve the bodies of our men, was overcome by a boulder."

"Now we were faced with the problem of according honours to the bodies of the infiltrators. As our regiment comprises 50 per cent Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir, the obstacle was soon overcome when some of our Muslim jawans offered to perform last rites. The graves were dug and the bodies of the enemies were lowered into these with a jawan reading from holy scriptures. The arms seized from the enemy included one universal machine gun and six rifles. Three radio sets, besides rations and other items, were also seized."

Despite what they (infiltrators) had done to our men, the needful was done by us in the greatest traditions of the Indian Army, he said.

Helping solve marital problems
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, July 23 — Babu Ram, father of Saboo Devi, a married woman who was allegedly murdered by her in-laws in April 1998, had been running from pillar to post to bring the in-laws of her daughter to book. He had almost lost hope until he got to know of a counselling centre for crime against women and weaker sections being run here.

The members of the counselling centre took up the case with the Superintendent of Police, following which a first information report (FIR) was registered against the in-laws of Saboo Devi.

In another case Ms Meena ( not her real name) was married to a person, who suffered from fits. Instead of being soft with her her in-laws started to torture her. The counselling centre intervened and the couple were divorced but after paying certain amount to the girl.

In another case, two sisters, Zubena and Sahida (not their real names), were married to two brothers.

Soon after their marriage, their husbands started to treat them shabbily and they went back to their father. Timely intervention by the counselling centre saved their marriage and now they are living a peaceful life.

These are a few of the several cases in which members of the monitoring committee of the counselling centre came to the rescue of the women being not treated well by their in-laws.

Mr I.S.Malhan, District attorney and Convener of the counselling centre, says : “ We keep on enquiring through different channels to get feedback about the relations between couples, who reach a compromise through us”.

Ever since the counselling centre started in April 1997, at least 40 cases of marriage disputes, 12 cases of domestic violence and seven cases of atrocities on women have been reported at the centre.

Ms Amrit Syngle, President of the executive committee of the counselling centre, says earlier it was felt that there was a lack of coordination between the police, prosecution and the home department and as a result of which crime against women and weaker sections went unnoticed.

Members of the counselling centre are educationists, doctors, psychologists and social workers. Mr Malhan says the centre has so far received at least 12 cases regarding harassment of husbands at the hands of their wives. “ We try to bring a compromise between the couples”, he adds.