A couple's gritty fight against some in the Indian Navy that should have made bigger headlines

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Dhanya Rajendran| January 1, 2015| 2.00 pm IST

Few days ago, the Indian Navy got a severe rapping from the High Court of Kerala. The division bench asked the Navy to ensure that no incidents, which would adversely affect its reputation and integrity, were ever repeated.

So what made the Kerala High Court so incensed at some authorities of the Indian Navy?

This was because of a typical David vs Goliath battle. A whistle blower Naval shipwright artificer of INS Kattabomman and his gritty wife had challenged the Navy after the former was first taken into custody and then branded 'mentally unsound' by the Navy.

It was on the night of October 23, 2014, that this reporter first spoke to Sunil Kumar Sahu. He had been forcibly admitted at the Naval Hospital in Kochi, his family was panicked about his safety.Sahu sounded scared, but affirmed that he was being held against his will.

His wife Arthi Sahu, was initially clueless as to what had happened to her husband, but once she gathered enough information, she filed a police complaint against his seniors in the Navy.

On October 13, 2014, Sahu wrote a six-page complaint naming three of his senior officers at INS Kattabomman including commanding officer Vijay Kumar Jha, leveling serious charges of corruption.

The same commanding officer was asked to investigate the case, and when Sahu 'did not co-operate', the Commanding Officer said he was mentally unsound, alleged Sahu's family.

Commander Raju of the Vishakapatnam Naval base told The News Minute in October: “The commanding officer was supposed to make a preliminary enquiry report. When he went to get details from Sahu, he used profane language against the commanding officer, so the Commanding officer decided that he required some sort of medical treatment.”

Sahu and his wife firmly stood their ground.

On November 7, the High Court of Kerala, hearing the plea of his wife, asked the Navy to shift him to NIMHANS hospital in Bengaluru for medical evaluation and had asked the report to be filed. A government psychiatrist in Kochi had found him to be normal and not mentally unfit as had been alleged by the Navy. The Navy’s plea to admit him in a Navy hospital was rejected by the court.

NIMHANS too found that Sahu was not suffering from any mental illness. Allowing him to get discharged from the hospital and join work, the Court also asked the Navy to formulate strict guidelines to ensure that no personnel of the defence forces are branded mentally ill for reasons of indiscipline or defiance of authority.

Read - Sailor with Indian Navy says he is being held against his will for exposing scam, Navy denies

This is not the first time that Sahu had claimed to have exposed financial irregularities in the Navy

Sahu, who was working in the Karwar base in 2013, was shunted out from there when he had questioned the financial irregularities that were happening at the base. He was allegedly harassed and asked to fudge receipts. When he did not succumb to their demands, he was transferred to INS Kattabomman in Thirunelveli.

Following the incident his mother had written to the then defence minister A.K. Anthony. A year later, Sahu wrote a six-page complaint to the Eastern Naval Command in Vishakapatnam about officers on the INS Kattabomman.

Sahu's allegations against his superiors may be true or false, but has the Navy lost the moral authority to inquire into them? Sahu has found immense support from sailors of his ranks, many of whom rallied behind him anonymously. Throughout the hearing of this case, the Kerala High Court had some harsh things to say to the Navy.

Sahu's mother is relieved and hopes 2015 will be an 'event-less' year for her son. But she says,"If only this news had made bigger headlines in 2014. There are things happening in the Navy that everyone should know about,"she says.