To prove he is alive,ex-IAF officer seeks protection

Rendered houseless and penniless after he was presumed to be dead in 1996,this ex-serviceman has since then failed to prove that he is alive.

Bagi has been fighting a legal battle since 1999 and now when the case was in an advance stage,he was threatened to withdraw his case.

His petition,filed under Section 482 of the CrPC,will come up for hearing before the High Court on Wednesday.

Bagi’s wife got him declared dead at a civil court after he fled the country and settled in Bangladesh after he received threats from some terrorists.

He had settled in New Delhi after retirement from the service in August 1986.

He had started a business of milk dairy,when three armed terrorists confronted him in December 1987 and asked him to join their terrorist group or face dire consequences.

Terrorised,Bagi left his wife and two sons at his ancestral house in native Gurdittpura village in Patiala and fled.

First he went to Orissa,where he spent 3-4 years and then moved to Kolkata,where he kept wandering,staying in gurdwaras for a year before finally moving to Dhaka in Bangladesh,where he became head granthi (priest) at Gurdwara Nanak Shahi.

As the terror threat wiped out from his heart and mind,he came back to his native place in December 1998 and that was when he encountered the real pain.

His wife refused to recognise him and so did his children. Not only they refused to accept him,they also threatened him with dire consequences,if he approached them again.

He then went to the IAF authorities for release of his pension,from where he got another shock that his name was struck off from the pension rolls as “dead” and his wife was getting the family pension after she had produced a court decree,declaring him civilly dead.

As the IAF pension department officials asked him to get his “dead” court decree declared null and void for restoration of his service pension,Bagi moved a civil court in Rajpura in 1999 but he has not yet succeeded to prove himself alive.

Though the court ordered to restrain Bagi’s wife from further withdrawing the family pension but kept reserved the order on declaring null and void the previous court decree pronounced in November 1996 for want of evidence.

Though Bagi has concluded his evidence with the production of Gurdittpura village sarpanch Mohan Singh and two other villagers,who had identified Bagi during their deposition before the court,Bagi’s wife and children are still to avail the opportunity to conclude their evidence.

“I will actually die if not provided with security immediately,” he said.

Bagi’s representation to Rajpura Deputy Superintendent of Police to provide him protection remained futile.

Left with no source of income or shelter,Bagi is living with one of his old colleague in Chamkaur Sahib near Ropar.