The Delhi High Court on Wednesday decided to take up a son’s quest to bring his father, a jawan who went missing during the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, back home from a jail in Pakistan where he has been languishing for the past 44 years.

Directing the Centre to file a report on the status and whereabouts of Anand Patri within a month, a Division Bench led by Chief Justice A P Shah observed: “This is pathetic. A person has lost his memory and become unsound of mind after languishing in jail for the last 44 years since 1965.” The court has posted the case for further hearing on October 21.

The order came on a public interest litigation filed by human rights activist Madangopal Khushiram Paul and lawyer Kishor Paul on behalf of son Vidyadhar Patri.

It was on February 7, 2003, that Vidyadhar saw a faded photograph of his father in an Oriya daily, 44 years after he went missing. The photograph published by the state government identified the person as “Naseem Gopal”, an inmate in a Pakistani jail for the last 44 years. The man had lost his memory and was of unsound mind, the advertisement said.

Vidyadhar, a native of Sarpur Sashan village at Balasore district in Orissa, approached the state Home Secretary and confirmed that the man in the picture was his father. He also wrote to the High Commissioner in Islamabad and then Pakistani Minister of Human Rights, Ansar Burney. A complaint to the NHRC in November 20, 2008 says the “Government of India has not taken any serious efforts to trace soldier Anand Patri. The NHRC forwarded the complaint to the Defence Ministry in December 2008”.