R.K. SINHA
Bills are passed by two Houses of parliament which become Acts after Presidential nods. The government of the day implements them for the benefit benefit of the people and the country. The intention is good. But some of them are often misused by greedy persons in the country. The Right To Information or the RTI, ACT is a case in point. Information useful for enemies have been, many a time, collected through this and passed on to them.
A new case related to spying has gone unheard in a noise raised by the opposition over the “victory” in the Lok Sabha elections. It’s a major story. A life imprisonment for spying for Pakistan has been ordered by the Nagpur District Court to a former engineer, Nishant Agarwal, who worked for BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited. He was convicted under the Official Secrets Act for supplying information to Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI. In addition to rigorous imprisonment, he was fined Rs 3000. It should be a lesson to others enemies of the country who have no love and can do anything for money. All other traitors of the country should get equal punishment. Six years ago, in 2018 , this case had created a stir because this was the first case of espionage related to BrahMos Aerospace.
Agarwal was suspected to have contacts with Pakistani intelligence agency through two Facebook accounts of Neha Sharma and Pooja Ranjan. These accounts were operated from Islamabad, believably by Pakistani intelligence agents. Agrawal was arrested by Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra ATS and Military Intelligence on charges of leaking information about Brahmos missile. The investigating agencies claimed that his computers and other digital devices were examined and it was found that sensitive data was transferred. Jaichands and Mir Jafars who spy on the army may be present in many places in our country. They may be working in the army in government offices as well as newspapers and agencies . The modus operandi is simple: collect information through RTI and pass that to masters for a hansome amount of money. They have no love for the nation. Nor have they any conscience left. The intention was good. The Right To Information Act was implemented for a good purpose. But, under the guise of a genuine information seeker some anti-national elements have tried to collect information about the preparations of the Indian Army. It has been observed that some elements have also started collecting most sensitive and important information. A meeting chaired by the Union Cabinet Secretary was held on April 28 ,2022 in which serious concern was expressed over it. This meeting was held just two days before the retirement of Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane.
There are limits to the rights of citizens of the country to get information under the RTI Act. Through the Right to Information, the nation makes its citizens , its work and the system of governance public. In a democracy, the people of the country give the opportunity to rule to their elected person and expect that the government will fulfill its responsibilities with full honesty and dedication. But , the general public cannot be given this right to demand information about the preparations being made for the security of the country and to fight the enemy.
Pakistan and China, however ,have often tried to get information about our defence preparations.The story of Madhuri Gupta is relevant in the connection. She was a “Group B” category officer of the Indian Foreign Service. In her 27 years long service, Madhuri worked in Iraq , Liberia , Malaysia , Croatia and Pakistan. Madhuri, who had a good command over Urdu and had a Sufi temperament, was also active in literary circles. She had an open mind. A few years ago, during her posting as Second Secretary in the High Commission of India in Islamabad, Madhuri was assigned the task of monitoring the Pakistani media due to her good command over Urdu. Barely six months after her posting in Pakistan, Madhuri was contacted by Jamshed , whose code name was Jim . When the Indian government officials came to know about it, a false information was deliberately sent through her for confirmation. As a result , Madhuri’s leaking of intelligence information were confirmed. Madhuri Gupta was called back to India on the pretext of preparations for the SAARC Summit to be held in Bhutan. As soon as she landed at Delhi airport on April 22, 2010 , the intelligence agency people caught her.
Interrogation revealed that she used to supply intelligence input to two ISI spies – Munnawar Raza Rana and Jamshed alias Jimmy . On the basis of all this , Madhuri was arrested on July 20, 2010 and was kept in judicial custody. On May 18, 2018 Delhi’s Additional Sessions Judge Siddarth Sharma sent her jail for three years for espionage. A few years ago, a “senior journalist” from the capital, Rajeev Sharma, was arrested on charges of spying for China. It was revealed later that Rajeev Sharma used to get information through the RTI and supply it to China. He was arrested under the Official Secrets Act. He had given many secret documents related to the army to China. He used to get a huge amount in exchange for providing sensitive information.
Many people keep asking questions, some unintelligent ones including. Therefore, it has to be ensured that this right is not misused.Some aspects should be also looked into in the light of the recent case. Agarwal had the opportunity to study in a top educational institute like IIT. He did mechanical engineering from there .After this, he started working as an engineer in Brahmos Aerospace. Due to his expertise, he was promoted to important posts in Brahmos Aerospace in a very short time and was made an important member of the team working on missile projects. The same person acted as a country’s enemy . How to deal with such persons? Can capital punishment be a deterrent?
( The writer is a senior editor , columnist and former MP)
