In response to request from several friends and well wishers, I am giving an update of my case.
DETAILS OF CASE – MAJ GEN V.K. SINGH
Maj. Gen. V K. Singh (Retd) is the son of Late Th. Kameshwar Singh, a well known freedom fighter who was awarded the Tamra Patra. He was originally from Ballia and had joined the freedom struggle as a student of Allahabad University, for which he suffered imprisonment during the Quit India movement in 1942. After Independence he joined the Police as a Dy.S.P. and was later inducted into the IPS. After his retirement he was Director Freedom Fighters Welfare Board of UP for over 5 years. His son Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh is a career soldier who was commissioned on 27/6/1965. During his 37 years unblemished service in the Army he has held several important appointments, the last being the Chief Signal Officer of the Western Army. In November 2000 he went on deputation to the Cabinet Sectt., Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), as Joint Secretary (Telecom) under Project Vision 2000. He retired from Army service on 30/6/2002 on attaining the age of 58. He was then re-employed in the same appointment in RAW until 30/6/2004, when he attained the age of 60.
Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh is a well known author who has been writing poems, short stories and articles for almost 40 years. During the seventies and eighties many of his poems and short stories were published in magazines. In later years he turned to professional writing and has written many articles and papers in service and professional journals. He is a prolific write and has authored four books. In 2001 he produced a coffee table book Through – Saga of the Corps of Signals. His second book, Leadership in the Indian Army – Biographies of Twelve Soldiers, was published in 2005. This book has received excellent reviews not only in India but also in foreign countries, including Pakistan. It has been appreciated by several well known authors, such as Khushwant Singh. His third book, History of the Corps of Signals Volume II, was published in 2006. He was holding the Chhatrapati Shivaji Chair (2006-07) at the United Service Institution of India for carrying out research on ‘The Contribution of the Armed Forces to the Freedom Movement in India’. He has recently submitted the manuscript of the book, which is likely to be published in the next few months. He is presently working on the third volume of the History of the Corps of Signals, for which he has been specially invited by the Corps of Signals of the Indian Army.
Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh’s fourth book entitled India’s External Intelligence – Secrets of the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) has recently been published by Manas Publications, New Delhi. This is the first time a book on RAW has been written by someone who has actually served in the intelligence agency. The book brings to light several lacunae in the functioning of RAW, the most glaring being the anomalies in the procurement of equipment, lack of accountability and our dependence on foreign sources. As a committed citizen, he was agitated at the malpractices that he noticed. Even more important, he found that the security of important persons such as the Prime Minister was being compromised, ‘for a few pieces of silver’, which is the title of one of his chapters.
On 21/09/2007, nearly three months after the publication of the book, the CBI raided the house of Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh and took away his computer, passports and some other documents. The CBI informed him that they had registered an FIR under Section 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, based on a complaint from the RAW that he had revealed ‘secrets’ in the book that endanger the security and sovereignty of India. Fearing his imminent arrest, he applied for anticipatory bail on 25/09/2007. During the hearing held on 26/09/07 in the Court of the Sessions Judge in Tis Hazari the CBI opposed the bail application. However, they were unable to produce any evidence to support their plea. They informed the court that they had still to read the book and examine the other documents seized from his house and needed more time. The Court granted their request and fixed the next date of hearing on 5/11/2007. The CBI gave an undertaking that they would not arrest him without the sanction of the Court. In view of this the Court felt that there was no need to pass any order regarding bail.
In the hearing on 5/11/07 the CBI did not produce any evidence. However, they opposed the bail, asking for custodial interrogation. They also requested that subsequent hearings should be held ‘in camera’, since the documents they intended to produce were very sensitive. This was obviously done with the intention of keeping the proceedings away from the glare of the media, which has severely castigated the action of the CBI and RAW. Subsequent hearings of the case were held on 30/11/07, 4/12/07, 10/12/07, 4/01/08, 14/1/08 and 22/1/08. The next hearing is due on 5/2/08.
The CBI called Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh for questioning to their office on 5/12/07. The next day he was again called to the CBI office but the questioning could not be completed as he was suffering from intense pain. He is an old patient of lumbar canal stenosis with prolapsed disc in 3rd, 4th and 5th lumbar vertebrae, which sometimes causes pain his back and leg. In the evening he went to the Army Hospital (RR) and was examined by a neuro-surgeon who advised complete bed rest for 15-20 days. An MRI done on 10/12/07 confirmed the cause of the problem. On 11/12/07, the CBI came to the residence of Maj Gen VK Singh to complete their questioning. On 13/12/07, the CBI also summoned the Publisher, Vivek Garg for questioning.
Till date, four books on RAW have been published in India. These are:-
(a) Inside RAW: The Story of India’s Secret Service, by Ashok Raina, (Vikas Publishing House, Delhi, 1981).
(b) India’s External Intelligence – Secrets of the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) by Maj Gen VK Singh (Manas Publications, New Delhi, June 2007).
(c) The Kaoboys of R&AW- Down Memory Lane by B. Raman, (Lancer Publishers, New Delhi, July 2007).
(d) Inside IB and RAW- The Rolling Stone that Gathered Moss by K. Sankaran Nair (Manas Publications, New Delhi, October 2007).
The first book by Ashok Raina is now out of print. However, copies are still available in libraries. The other three books are recent publications, published in 2007. Reviews of these three books have been published in various newspapers and journals. In addition, a large number of articles have been written, especially in respect of the book written by Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh. The action of the RAW and CBI has been condemned by almost all sections of society and the media. It is generally felt that he is being victimised for bringing out instances of corruption and malfeasance in RAW, which has been severely embarrassed by these disclosures. It is also felt that the other books on RAW written by insiders such as B. Raman and K. Sankaran Nair are more explicit and have revealed much more information that could be considered sensitive. Yet, only his book has invited the ire of RAW. In order to carry out a comparison of the three books, the important disclosures in each are given in the Annexure. It is obvious that the information revealed in the books written by Raman and Sankaran Nair is more sensitive than what is contained in the book written by Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh. However, there has been no murmur of protest from RAW about these revelations. There are many reasons for this discrimination. Some of these are evident from the large number of articles that have appeared in the press.
In the Hindustan Times of 13/10/07, Barkha Dutt wrote:-
Moreover, why has V.K. Singh been singled out for punishment? After all, a slew of recent books by former spies – including one by security analyst B. Raman that accuses Rajiv Gandhi of covering up the Bofors probe – have been allowed into the public domain without fuss or fury. Could it be because V.K. Singh was never an ‘insider’ but a military officer on deputation? Is this just petty bureaucratic politics playing itself out?
In the Indian Express on 9/10/07 Veerappa Moily, the Chairman of the Administrative Reforms Commission (which has already recommended that the Official Secrets Act, 1923, should be repealed) wrote:-
Such overly harsh and sweeping provisions help create a Kafaesque atmosphere of secrecy about even trifling matters as shown by the travails of a former RAW officer whose criticism of the procurement practices in his former organisation have been taken to be a breach of the OSA. His revelations may be considered as whistle-blowing by some while his former colleagues may consider them to be washing dirty linen in public. But how such allegations can be considered a breach of national security is difficult to fathom.
T.S.R. Subramanian, who was the Cabinet Secretary between 1996 and 1998, wrote in the Indian Express on 6/10/07:
……How can a person be hauled up before court for revealing official secrets if the prosecuting agency does not even know what secrets are being revealed? This is some kind of Alice in Wonderland situation..…V.K. Singh is basically to be seen as a whistleblower.
The case against Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh has been registered by the CBI on the basis of a written complaint dated 6/9/2007 from Shri B. Bhatacharjee, Deputy Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India. Significantly, the complaint does not specify if it relates to RAW, since this is not mentioned anywhere, including the address of the sender. The complaint does not give details of the secrets alleged to have been revealed in the book. The FIR registered by the CBI on 20/9/2007 also does not mention any specific detail of the so called secrets. This is exactly what has been pointed out by Mr. T.S.R. Subramanian, an ex-Cabinet Secretary of the Government of India. It is clear that the FIR is without basis and has been registered with a view to harass Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh. No FIR has been registered against the authors of the other books about RAW, written by B. Raman and K. Sankaran Nair, which have revealed information that can be considered damaging to national security as well as friendly relations with foreign countries.
The letter based on which the FIR has been registered by the CBI charges him with ‘publishing various classified secret information including the names of various officials and their designations, functions, station codes, various technical projects, functioning of Telecom Division and Signal Intelligence, including that of SPG etc, in violation of the Official Secrets Act, 1923’. Apart from the fact that these charges do not reveal specific details of the secret information alleged to have been published, they are entirely false. For instance, officials working in RAW headquarters are government servants, and not intelligence agents or spies, whose identity is to be protected. Their names are designations are known to everyone, including the Directorate of Estates which allots them accommodation; the CPWD, which maintains their houses; the electricity, telephone and horticulture departments, which provide then services; the CGHS dispensary and the private clinics where they take medical treatment and so on. The names of these officers are available on the web site of the department of personnel. (http://persmin.nic.in).
That second relates to revealing station codes. Page 45 of the book contains the following passage: ‘As was to be expected, the department had a number of stations in foreign countries. These were usually referred to by three letter code signs, such as ABC, XYZ, RST etc. The code signs were designed for use in messages or telegrams that were sent outside, as a security measure.’ The fact that RAW has stations in foreign countries is well known, since its charter is external intelligence. Without these stations, RAW would not be able to fulfill its assigned role. The passage only gives an example of the use of code signs, and does not reveal the actual location or code sign of any station. The charge is obviously malicious and false.
The next charge relates to technical projects. All the projects mentioned in the book eg. the VHF/UHF antenna, the SPG communication equipment, the VSAT project etc, were procured form private companies, mostly of foreign origin. Since details of these projects were known to private vendors, their disclosure cannot be termed a revelation of secrets, as alleged by RAW. Another charge relates to the functioning of Telecom Division and Signals Intelligence. This again is a vague and meaningless charge, without basis. It is difficult to comprehend how the functioning of a department can jeopardise national security. Similarly, an explanation of the meaning of signals intelligence and the various activities covered by it can hardly be termed as secret. The same applies to the SPG.
Comprehensive information about RAW is already in the public domain. The Wikipedia site has photographs of RAW headquarters as well as ARC bases, with map coordinates (latitude and longitude), including those in foreign countries, and the type of aircraft held. It also gives the organisation of RAW, its role and functions, successes and failures, names of its heads since inception, and so on. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_and_Analysis_Wing)
It is ironical that Maj Gen VK Singh is still working on a project assigned to him by the Army, in which he has access to classified documents. He has been engaged by the Directorate General of Signals, Army headquarters to write the third volume of the History of the Corps of Signals, which will cover the period 1947 to 1972. (He had earlier written the second volume, covering the period 1939 to 1947). For this purpose, a dedicated history cell has been established in the Signals Enclave on Rao Tula Ram Marg in New Delhi, where adequate staff and secretarial support is provided. The cell also holds classified documents pertaining to the period that is to be covered by the book. It is inconceivable that the Army would entrust such a sensitive task to Maj Gen VK Singh if his credentials were questionable.
It is felt that Maj Gen VK Singh is being harassed purely because of the personal animus of the present RAW chief, Mr. Ashok Chaturvedi, who is extremely annoyed because of the mention in the book of the incident concerning a senior officer who did not attend office for several months after he was overlooked for promotion. Though he was not named in the book, this was known to everyone in the organization and later became public knowledge. As was widely reported by the media, he was promoted as Special Secretary and later as Secretary at the behest of the then Cabinet Secretary, BK Chaturvedi, who was related to him. A biographical sketch of Mr Ashok Chaturvedi on Wikipedia gives many other interesting details, a perusal of which will prove the point. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashok_Chaturvedi).
Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh is being prosecuted under the Official Secret Act, a draconian law passed by the British in 1923, which is an anachronism in a democracy like India. It has resulted in many cases of miscarriage of justice in the past, but this is perhaps the first time it is being used to settle personal scores. The Administrative Reforms Commission chaired by Shri Veerappa Moily has recommended the repeal or amendment of the Act, which is in direct contradiction to the Right to Information Act and the Whistle Blowers Resolution passed recently. Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh is a responsible officer who has an unblemished record of almost 40 years service to the country. He has been careful while writing the book to ensure that no classified material is included in the book. His aim in writing the book was to highlight the shortcomings in the functioning of the intelligence agencies in order to improve their functional efficiency. In fact, he has rendered a service to the nation and deserves to be rewarded rather than being targeted by the intelligence agencies who are annoyed with him for revealing their shortcomings.
It is probable that Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh is being harassed because he is a soldier and was an outsider in RAW, as Barkha Dutt pointed out. Of course, this is not the first time this has happened. There was the well known case of Captain BK Subba Rao, a Naval officer who was falsely implicated in a case under the OSA in the early nineties. After spending almost two years in jail, he was acquitted, with not a word of apology from the Government. But when Iftikhar Gilani, correspondent for the Kashmir Times was arrested in 2002 under the OSA on trumped up charges, the whole of the media and the political establishment rose in his defence, forcing the Government to withdraw the charges against him. About 50 members of parliament made a personal appeal to the Home Minister to compensate Gilani and repeal the draconian Official Secrets Act. Maj Gen VK Singh deserves the same consideration that was shown to Gilani. As a whistle blower, he expects protection from the State, not harassment, which is what he is being subjected to at the moment. Will the Government of the largest democracy oblige, or permit their image to be sullied before the whole World?
In the 28 January 2008 issue of the Outlook Saikat Datta has revealed that the National Security Adviser has ordered an inquiry against the officers named in the book who are suspected to be corrupt. The inquiry will be conducted by GBS Sidhu, a retired special secretary of RAW. However, an ‘internal’ enquiry is unlikely to achieve anything. If the government is serious about bringing the corrupt officers to book, it should hand over the investigation to the CBI. The nomination of Sidhu to conduct the enquiry also raises a very interesting question. Since he is no longer a government servant, does not giving Sidhu access to classified files violate the OSA?
In an article about his case in the Dainik Jagran of 12/10/07 noted columnist A. Surya Prakash ended with a very relevant question: Will Parliament stand up for him? He is waiting for an answer from our respected law makers.
DETAILS OF CASE – MAJ GEN V.K. SINGH
Maj. Gen. V K. Singh (Retd) is the son of Late Th. Kameshwar Singh, a well known freedom fighter who was awarded the Tamra Patra. He was originally from Ballia and had joined the freedom struggle as a student of Allahabad University, for which he suffered imprisonment during the Quit India movement in 1942. After Independence he joined the Police as a Dy.S.P. and was later inducted into the IPS. After his retirement he was Director Freedom Fighters Welfare Board of UP for over 5 years. His son Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh is a career soldier who was commissioned on 27/6/1965. During his 37 years unblemished service in the Army he has held several important appointments, the last being the Chief Signal Officer of the Western Army. In November 2000 he went on deputation to the Cabinet Sectt., Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), as Joint Secretary (Telecom) under Project Vision 2000. He retired from Army service on 30/6/2002 on attaining the age of 58. He was then re-employed in the same appointment in RAW until 30/6/2004, when he attained the age of 60.
Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh is a well known author who has been writing poems, short stories and articles for almost 40 years. During the seventies and eighties many of his poems and short stories were published in magazines. In later years he turned to professional writing and has written many articles and papers in service and professional journals. He is a prolific write and has authored four books. In 2001 he produced a coffee table book Through – Saga of the Corps of Signals. His second book, Leadership in the Indian Army – Biographies of Twelve Soldiers, was published in 2005. This book has received excellent reviews not only in India but also in foreign countries, including Pakistan. It has been appreciated by several well known authors, such as Khushwant Singh. His third book, History of the Corps of Signals Volume II, was published in 2006. He was holding the Chhatrapati Shivaji Chair (2006-07) at the United Service Institution of India for carrying out research on ‘The Contribution of the Armed Forces to the Freedom Movement in India’. He has recently submitted the manuscript of the book, which is likely to be published in the next few months. He is presently working on the third volume of the History of the Corps of Signals, for which he has been specially invited by the Corps of Signals of the Indian Army.
Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh’s fourth book entitled India’s External Intelligence – Secrets of the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) has recently been published by Manas Publications, New Delhi. This is the first time a book on RAW has been written by someone who has actually served in the intelligence agency. The book brings to light several lacunae in the functioning of RAW, the most glaring being the anomalies in the procurement of equipment, lack of accountability and our dependence on foreign sources. As a committed citizen, he was agitated at the malpractices that he noticed. Even more important, he found that the security of important persons such as the Prime Minister was being compromised, ‘for a few pieces of silver’, which is the title of one of his chapters.
On 21/09/2007, nearly three months after the publication of the book, the CBI raided the house of Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh and took away his computer, passports and some other documents. The CBI informed him that they had registered an FIR under Section 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, based on a complaint from the RAW that he had revealed ‘secrets’ in the book that endanger the security and sovereignty of India. Fearing his imminent arrest, he applied for anticipatory bail on 25/09/2007. During the hearing held on 26/09/07 in the Court of the Sessions Judge in Tis Hazari the CBI opposed the bail application. However, they were unable to produce any evidence to support their plea. They informed the court that they had still to read the book and examine the other documents seized from his house and needed more time. The Court granted their request and fixed the next date of hearing on 5/11/2007. The CBI gave an undertaking that they would not arrest him without the sanction of the Court. In view of this the Court felt that there was no need to pass any order regarding bail.
In the hearing on 5/11/07 the CBI did not produce any evidence. However, they opposed the bail, asking for custodial interrogation. They also requested that subsequent hearings should be held ‘in camera’, since the documents they intended to produce were very sensitive. This was obviously done with the intention of keeping the proceedings away from the glare of the media, which has severely castigated the action of the CBI and RAW. Subsequent hearings of the case were held on 30/11/07, 4/12/07, 10/12/07, 4/01/08, 14/1/08 and 22/1/08. The next hearing is due on 5/2/08.
The CBI called Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh for questioning to their office on 5/12/07. The next day he was again called to the CBI office but the questioning could not be completed as he was suffering from intense pain. He is an old patient of lumbar canal stenosis with prolapsed disc in 3rd, 4th and 5th lumbar vertebrae, which sometimes causes pain his back and leg. In the evening he went to the Army Hospital (RR) and was examined by a neuro-surgeon who advised complete bed rest for 15-20 days. An MRI done on 10/12/07 confirmed the cause of the problem. On 11/12/07, the CBI came to the residence of Maj Gen VK Singh to complete their questioning. On 13/12/07, the CBI also summoned the Publisher, Vivek Garg for questioning.
Till date, four books on RAW have been published in India. These are:-
(a) Inside RAW: The Story of India’s Secret Service, by Ashok Raina, (Vikas Publishing House, Delhi, 1981).
(b) India’s External Intelligence – Secrets of the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) by Maj Gen VK Singh (Manas Publications, New Delhi, June 2007).
(c) The Kaoboys of R&AW- Down Memory Lane by B. Raman, (Lancer Publishers, New Delhi, July 2007).
(d) Inside IB and RAW- The Rolling Stone that Gathered Moss by K. Sankaran Nair (Manas Publications, New Delhi, October 2007).
The first book by Ashok Raina is now out of print. However, copies are still available in libraries. The other three books are recent publications, published in 2007. Reviews of these three books have been published in various newspapers and journals. In addition, a large number of articles have been written, especially in respect of the book written by Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh. The action of the RAW and CBI has been condemned by almost all sections of society and the media. It is generally felt that he is being victimised for bringing out instances of corruption and malfeasance in RAW, which has been severely embarrassed by these disclosures. It is also felt that the other books on RAW written by insiders such as B. Raman and K. Sankaran Nair are more explicit and have revealed much more information that could be considered sensitive. Yet, only his book has invited the ire of RAW. In order to carry out a comparison of the three books, the important disclosures in each are given in the Annexure. It is obvious that the information revealed in the books written by Raman and Sankaran Nair is more sensitive than what is contained in the book written by Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh. However, there has been no murmur of protest from RAW about these revelations. There are many reasons for this discrimination. Some of these are evident from the large number of articles that have appeared in the press.
In the Hindustan Times of 13/10/07, Barkha Dutt wrote:-
Moreover, why has V.K. Singh been singled out for punishment? After all, a slew of recent books by former spies – including one by security analyst B. Raman that accuses Rajiv Gandhi of covering up the Bofors probe – have been allowed into the public domain without fuss or fury. Could it be because V.K. Singh was never an ‘insider’ but a military officer on deputation? Is this just petty bureaucratic politics playing itself out?
In the Indian Express on 9/10/07 Veerappa Moily, the Chairman of the Administrative Reforms Commission (which has already recommended that the Official Secrets Act, 1923, should be repealed) wrote:-
Such overly harsh and sweeping provisions help create a Kafaesque atmosphere of secrecy about even trifling matters as shown by the travails of a former RAW officer whose criticism of the procurement practices in his former organisation have been taken to be a breach of the OSA. His revelations may be considered as whistle-blowing by some while his former colleagues may consider them to be washing dirty linen in public. But how such allegations can be considered a breach of national security is difficult to fathom.
T.S.R. Subramanian, who was the Cabinet Secretary between 1996 and 1998, wrote in the Indian Express on 6/10/07:
……How can a person be hauled up before court for revealing official secrets if the prosecuting agency does not even know what secrets are being revealed? This is some kind of Alice in Wonderland situation..…V.K. Singh is basically to be seen as a whistleblower.
The case against Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh has been registered by the CBI on the basis of a written complaint dated 6/9/2007 from Shri B. Bhatacharjee, Deputy Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India. Significantly, the complaint does not specify if it relates to RAW, since this is not mentioned anywhere, including the address of the sender. The complaint does not give details of the secrets alleged to have been revealed in the book. The FIR registered by the CBI on 20/9/2007 also does not mention any specific detail of the so called secrets. This is exactly what has been pointed out by Mr. T.S.R. Subramanian, an ex-Cabinet Secretary of the Government of India. It is clear that the FIR is without basis and has been registered with a view to harass Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh. No FIR has been registered against the authors of the other books about RAW, written by B. Raman and K. Sankaran Nair, which have revealed information that can be considered damaging to national security as well as friendly relations with foreign countries.
The letter based on which the FIR has been registered by the CBI charges him with ‘publishing various classified secret information including the names of various officials and their designations, functions, station codes, various technical projects, functioning of Telecom Division and Signal Intelligence, including that of SPG etc, in violation of the Official Secrets Act, 1923’. Apart from the fact that these charges do not reveal specific details of the secret information alleged to have been published, they are entirely false. For instance, officials working in RAW headquarters are government servants, and not intelligence agents or spies, whose identity is to be protected. Their names are designations are known to everyone, including the Directorate of Estates which allots them accommodation; the CPWD, which maintains their houses; the electricity, telephone and horticulture departments, which provide then services; the CGHS dispensary and the private clinics where they take medical treatment and so on. The names of these officers are available on the web site of the department of personnel. (http://persmin.nic.in).
That second relates to revealing station codes. Page 45 of the book contains the following passage: ‘As was to be expected, the department had a number of stations in foreign countries. These were usually referred to by three letter code signs, such as ABC, XYZ, RST etc. The code signs were designed for use in messages or telegrams that were sent outside, as a security measure.’ The fact that RAW has stations in foreign countries is well known, since its charter is external intelligence. Without these stations, RAW would not be able to fulfill its assigned role. The passage only gives an example of the use of code signs, and does not reveal the actual location or code sign of any station. The charge is obviously malicious and false.
The next charge relates to technical projects. All the projects mentioned in the book eg. the VHF/UHF antenna, the SPG communication equipment, the VSAT project etc, were procured form private companies, mostly of foreign origin. Since details of these projects were known to private vendors, their disclosure cannot be termed a revelation of secrets, as alleged by RAW. Another charge relates to the functioning of Telecom Division and Signals Intelligence. This again is a vague and meaningless charge, without basis. It is difficult to comprehend how the functioning of a department can jeopardise national security. Similarly, an explanation of the meaning of signals intelligence and the various activities covered by it can hardly be termed as secret. The same applies to the SPG.
Comprehensive information about RAW is already in the public domain. The Wikipedia site has photographs of RAW headquarters as well as ARC bases, with map coordinates (latitude and longitude), including those in foreign countries, and the type of aircraft held. It also gives the organisation of RAW, its role and functions, successes and failures, names of its heads since inception, and so on. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_and_Analysis_Wing)
It is ironical that Maj Gen VK Singh is still working on a project assigned to him by the Army, in which he has access to classified documents. He has been engaged by the Directorate General of Signals, Army headquarters to write the third volume of the History of the Corps of Signals, which will cover the period 1947 to 1972. (He had earlier written the second volume, covering the period 1939 to 1947). For this purpose, a dedicated history cell has been established in the Signals Enclave on Rao Tula Ram Marg in New Delhi, where adequate staff and secretarial support is provided. The cell also holds classified documents pertaining to the period that is to be covered by the book. It is inconceivable that the Army would entrust such a sensitive task to Maj Gen VK Singh if his credentials were questionable.
It is felt that Maj Gen VK Singh is being harassed purely because of the personal animus of the present RAW chief, Mr. Ashok Chaturvedi, who is extremely annoyed because of the mention in the book of the incident concerning a senior officer who did not attend office for several months after he was overlooked for promotion. Though he was not named in the book, this was known to everyone in the organization and later became public knowledge. As was widely reported by the media, he was promoted as Special Secretary and later as Secretary at the behest of the then Cabinet Secretary, BK Chaturvedi, who was related to him. A biographical sketch of Mr Ashok Chaturvedi on Wikipedia gives many other interesting details, a perusal of which will prove the point. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashok_Chaturvedi).
Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh is being prosecuted under the Official Secret Act, a draconian law passed by the British in 1923, which is an anachronism in a democracy like India. It has resulted in many cases of miscarriage of justice in the past, but this is perhaps the first time it is being used to settle personal scores. The Administrative Reforms Commission chaired by Shri Veerappa Moily has recommended the repeal or amendment of the Act, which is in direct contradiction to the Right to Information Act and the Whistle Blowers Resolution passed recently. Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh is a responsible officer who has an unblemished record of almost 40 years service to the country. He has been careful while writing the book to ensure that no classified material is included in the book. His aim in writing the book was to highlight the shortcomings in the functioning of the intelligence agencies in order to improve their functional efficiency. In fact, he has rendered a service to the nation and deserves to be rewarded rather than being targeted by the intelligence agencies who are annoyed with him for revealing their shortcomings.
It is probable that Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh is being harassed because he is a soldier and was an outsider in RAW, as Barkha Dutt pointed out. Of course, this is not the first time this has happened. There was the well known case of Captain BK Subba Rao, a Naval officer who was falsely implicated in a case under the OSA in the early nineties. After spending almost two years in jail, he was acquitted, with not a word of apology from the Government. But when Iftikhar Gilani, correspondent for the Kashmir Times was arrested in 2002 under the OSA on trumped up charges, the whole of the media and the political establishment rose in his defence, forcing the Government to withdraw the charges against him. About 50 members of parliament made a personal appeal to the Home Minister to compensate Gilani and repeal the draconian Official Secrets Act. Maj Gen VK Singh deserves the same consideration that was shown to Gilani. As a whistle blower, he expects protection from the State, not harassment, which is what he is being subjected to at the moment. Will the Government of the largest democracy oblige, or permit their image to be sullied before the whole World?
In the 28 January 2008 issue of the Outlook Saikat Datta has revealed that the National Security Adviser has ordered an inquiry against the officers named in the book who are suspected to be corrupt. The inquiry will be conducted by GBS Sidhu, a retired special secretary of RAW. However, an ‘internal’ enquiry is unlikely to achieve anything. If the government is serious about bringing the corrupt officers to book, it should hand over the investigation to the CBI. The nomination of Sidhu to conduct the enquiry also raises a very interesting question. Since he is no longer a government servant, does not giving Sidhu access to classified files violate the OSA?
In an article about his case in the Dainik Jagran of 12/10/07 noted columnist A. Surya Prakash ended with a very relevant question: Will Parliament stand up for him? He is waiting for an answer from our respected law makers.
1 comment:
Excellent work.
Keep it up.
Nath
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