The media, particularly The Indian Express, needs to be congratulated on highlighting the injustice being meted out to Maj Gen V.K. Singh, a distinguished army officer and former member of RAW, merely because he ruffled some feathers in the RAW hierarchy. He is supposed to have done this by his expose of some aspects of RAW’s functioning. Apparently the tables turned when the prosecuting organisation, the CBI, admitted in the Delhi High Court that although they had charged Singh under the Official Secrets Act, they were unable to give specifics, as they were still to read the book in which he is supposed to have violated the provisions of this act! It is obvious that CBI was acting on a fiat from unknown superiors. Proof, if any is required, of the politicisation of CBI.Even to a layman it would be obvious that this is a case of harassment of an upright officer, who has rightly criticised those acts of omission and commission (largely the latter), which needed to be exposed. We all talk of widespread corruption and misuse of public funds. The courts and the media have talked about the need for more whistleblowers. Yet, the Government of India, RAW and CBI are hounding Singh, the whistleblower. Hackles are raised, moustaches of those in the hierarchy are bristling and reams of paper in files marked ‘secret’ travel from desk to desk, all with red stickers marked ‘Most Immediate’ adorning them. The whole exercise is to think up ways to ‘teach this man a lesson’.This sorry episode also raises the larger question of the public’s right to know the misdeeds of public servants. If we now start prosecuting persons for exposing these wrongdoings, especially under the outdated and vague OSA, we are virtually throttling dissent. How can we call India a democracy if this happens?Given its work, most aspects of RAW’s functioning are correctly kept under wraps. It is one of the few organisations that is given a long rope in terms of funding. Nor is it asked to account for monies spent. However, the point made by Singh in his book about the need for an oversight on how funds are spent on non-intelligence operations is valid, and requires to be considered.RAW has chosen to prosecute Singh for his frank expose of the organisation’s working. This smacks of vendetta. It needs to be mentioned that the organisation is still to bring to book those senior officers who helped the infamous RAW officer, Rabinder Singh, escape to the US with the nation’s secrets. Why have they escaped action?Our intelligence agencies already have the dubious honour of letting the nation down repeatedly. Now they have added to their woes by getting egg on their faces over Maj Gen Singh.The writer is a former vice-chief of army staff
