SC asks Centre to pay Rs 10 lakh to man claiming to be Indian spy in Pakistan

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New Delhi, September 13

The Supreme Court has ordered the Centre to pay Rs 10 lakh to a 75-year-old man, who spent 14 years in Pakistani jails in Pakistan in the 1970s for allegedly spying for India.

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India UU Lalit, however, clarified that the order for compensation was made in view of the facts and circumstances of the case and that it was not expressing opinion on his claims made by petitioner Mahmood Ansari.

The clarification came after Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee opposed the order on the ground that it would mean accepting Ansari’s claims.

As Banerjee contended there were no records of the petitioner having been employed by the Government, the Bench on Monday said, it was sure that there won’t be any records if he was assigned the kind of work he has claimed.

Stating that he worked in the Rail Mail Service in 1974, Ansari had claimed that he went to Pakistan twice for a specific task and was caught by the Pakistani forces in 1976, arrested under Official Secrets Act, 1923 and court marshalled and awarded a 14-year prison term in 1978. Here in India, the postal department dismissed him from service, he alleged.

The petitioner cited letters from the Indian High Commission to show that he was stuck in Pakistan and that he had written to his brother in Oman who in turn wrote to Indian authorities for help.