Bhopal: Twenty two-year-old Jitendra Arjunwar who returned home after spending five year in prisons in Pakistan after accidentally straying into the neighbouring country in 2013, has said he was mistaken a spy and given third degree torture when he was in “illegal” custody of Pak Rangers.
“I was taken into the custody by Pakistan Rangers after I was caught (inside Pakistan). I was kept in custody of Pak Rangers for six months without being produced in the local court. I was given third degree torture during the period. I was subjected to intense grilling by officers of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan and Pak Rangers in my prison cell during the period,” he said while narrating his ordeal. “I was sent to prison when the ISI and Pakistan Rangers could not establish me as a spy”, he told a group of visiting media to his home in Barghat in Seoni district on Monday.
He was given warm reception by his mother, sister and sister-in-law when he reached home on Sunday evening from Delhi. Arjun, who is suffering from sickle cell anemia, said there were four others like him in the Pakistan jail where he was lodged.
“Although, I was not allowed to meet the other prisoners, I learnt that four other people, who like me had accidentally strayed into Pakistan, were lodged in the different cells in the jail”, he said.
According to him, Indian embassy officials who often visited his prison, used to be misguided by the Pakistan Rangers on his identity.
“I have made representations to the Ministry of External Affairs of India and different human rights bodies pleading to secure my release from Pakistan prison. I had almost given up the hope of returning home”, he added.
Arjun was released from prison in 2014, but could not be sent to India due to lack of documents to establish his citizenship.
However, efforts by the Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy last year have led to establishment of identity as an Indian and his subsequent homecoming. Arjun, who ran away from home to visit Ajmer in Rajasthan, strayed into Pakistan at Barmer in 201, landing in the hands of Pakistan Rangers.
