`I wore my regimental tie for the first time since 1980'

`I wore my regimental tie for the first time since 1980'
GAURAV C. SAWANT

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 21: Ranbir Singh Rathaur was commissioned as an officer in the Indian army on December 21 in 1969. Thirty-one years later today, the Delhi High Court has resrored his pride after he was hounded as a spy and a traitor for 20 years.

``Today, for the first time since 1980 I wore this regimental tie,'' Rathaur told The Indian Express, displaying the black, green and yellow striped Garhwal Rifles tie. He was 35 when arrested by the military police on charges of spying for Pakistan. Today at 55, he tries to smile through a sea of pain and tears, his wife of 29 years besides him.

``They (the army) beat me up, broke my bones. Jawans spat at me, disrobed me and dragged me through the road at night tied to a jeep trying to make me confess that I had sold secrets to Pakistan,'' he states, feeling his broken left earlobe gingerly.

Wife Swaran breaks down. Their daughters Ritu and Rakhi were less than two years of age when Rathaur was arrested. She was forced to vacate the army house and secure life in cantonment. ``We had no money. I did not even know where he was. I begged every officer in the army headquarters in Delhi. I even met Jagjivan Ram, the then defence minister with my two daughters pulling at my pallu. But nobody heard me,'' she says.

Swaran then moved to a rented room in Paharganj in central Delhi. I used to meet my husband along with my daughters. I taught children of other prisoners outside jail to earn a living. Often, there was no money to even pay their fees or buy warm clothes for them in winters,'' she says. The two daughters were always told that their father was a Prisoner of War (PoW).

Fellow prisoner in Tihar jail, Charles Shobhraj helped Rathaur, who typed put letters for the smooth operator for a living. ``Not all in the army were vindictive,'' say the couple. Several officers came forward to help. The girls went to the army's public school, and their mother ensured that they did a computer course. Today, they run a cricket website called yehhaicricket.com.

``I knew I was innocent all along. The two spies (army jawans) who were arrested were reinstated by the army once they implicated us. And whoever tried to fight the army was made an accused. One JAG branch (army's legal cell) officer refused to toe the army line, so he was made an accused. At one point, 52 people were made the accused,'' says Rathaur bitterly.

He feels that certain officers in Military Intelligence (MI) implicated them and to cover their tracks, kept implicating more people. ``The army did not apply its mind to the case and showed absolute lack of moral courage. I am bitter that my entire life was thrown away because of a handful of people,'' he adds.

Rathaur now plans to sue the army for damages. ``My batch mates are Major Generals today. Look at the other accused. They have paid such a heavy price for being loyal, truthful and upright. Take Major Nirmal Ajwani, A.K Rana or the others. Who will return our youth to us?'' he asks.

He knows that the army will contest the Delhi High Court order and is prepared for a long haul. ``In 1980, during the court martial at Nagrauta (J&K), the army gave me a list of names of officers and said implicate them and we may set you free. But Swaran said no army family must suffer unnecessarily like we are and I refused. I was sentenced to 14 years in prison. We all wasted the prime of our lives,'' he says. They know that money will come their way after the court orders but Swaran has asked Rathaur to donate it all to charity.

``Honour has been restored and that is supreme. The guilty in army will be punished by God. In the Bhagwad Gita, Lord Krishna has said the guilty never go unpunished. We are happy to be free again,'' he adds.