AFT asks Army to form team to dig out record of WW-II soldier

A bench comprising Justice N P Gupta and Lt Gen H S Panag (Retd) ordered that the respondents (the Army and the Central government) be directed to form a special team to trace out the record of the World War II soldier,Sowar Lohari,from all possible sources,and findings with related documents be placed before the bench by July 6.

Lt Gen Panag commented: “It is ridiculous. The information is available on Internet. The British High Commission is more concerned,while the Indian Army is treating it as a routine matter… If you do not solve it,we will call the officer (in the court) who maintains historical records and ask him to correct it.”

As per the petition,Ganga Ram had claimed that his grandfather Lohari had died in the Middle East on December 12,1942,while in service during the World War II,and his body was received by his grandmother Munni in Karachi (now in Pakistan).

But when he approached the Armoured Corps Records Office for claiming any medals,possessions or service documents belonging to his grandfather,he was informed that according to the long roll maintained by them,his grandfather had not died in WW II,but was invalided out on April 15,1941,and he must have later died of natural causes.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) also confirmed on February 26,2008,that Lohari had died on December 12,1942,while in service and his name was also commemorated in the Delhi and Karachi 1939-1945 war memorials. It had listed his death as ‘casualty’ and ‘Commonwealth War dead’.

To counter another allegation of the Army that his regiment was in India in 1942,Ganga Ram procured its War Diary. It showed that the 6th DCO,the regiment of Lohari,was in the Middle East on December 12,1942.

The United Services Institution,the centre for historical research for the armed forces,had also stated to Army headquarters on August 18,2009 that if Lohari had been invalided out in 1941,he was no longer classified as a “serviceman” and hence could not be listed as a war casualty in CWGC Records.

Ganga Ram then approached the AFT this year for correction of the service record of his grandfather and that the statement “invalided out of service on 15-04-1941” may be replaced with “died in World War II on 12-12-1942”. He has also asked for the documents or belongings of his grandfather to be handed over to his family.