Many of the facts narrated in the book about the R&AW since its creation in 1968, its political misuse during the Emergency, consequent downsizing in 1977, successes and failures have been in the public domain either through media reports or other publications, some of which have been referred to by Singh. He has built the narrative of organisational anomalies on his personal experience during his three-and-a-half-year stay in the R&AW, none of which can be seen as violating the Official Secrets Act (OSA) in any respect. There are two things in the book that appear to have offended the touchy establishment. First, he has hinted at misuse of the organisation against political opponents. Second, he has suggested that, given the misuse of scarce public resources in the name of intelligence, the R&AW be brought under parliamentary scrutiny.

This brings us to the question of utility and relevance of the OSA, a legislation passed by the British Parliament in 1923, being invoked in this case, in the era of satellites and the Internet. The act, upgraded for British India after the experience of the First World War, has occasionally been qualified by judicial pronouncements in some cases; otherwise, it still refers to “Presidency Magistrate” and is draconian enough to state that “on a prosecution for an offence punishable under this section it shall not be necessary to show that the accused person was guilty of any particular act tending to show a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State, and, notwithstanding that no such act is proved against him, he may be convicted if, from the circumstances of the case or his conduct or his known character as proved, it appears that his purpose was a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State.” No wonder, the second

... contd.