Devendra Ingale with a picture of son Parag. Devendra Ingale with a picture of son Parag.

Despite repeated RTIs and appeals, Devendra Ingale, the father of 15-year-old Parag Ingale, who was shot during an NCC training session and is still lying in a coma in Command Hospital, is yet to get any concrete information from the Army’s National Cadet Corps wing. His applications, asking for information on what happened to the Army officers responsible, has been forwarded from one office to another since September last year.

Ingale’s tryst with RTIs started on September 10, 2014, when he sent an application to the Additional Director-General of Army Education, New Delhi, and the NCC headquarters, Pune. Among other details, he had asked for the action taken against Amod Ghanekar, the teacher who had fired the bullet, about the Army officers involved and for the copy of the court martial held.

“While they gave a reply on Amod Ghanekar, none of the questions about the Army officers have been answered. This letter was forwarded to Director General, NCC, R K Puram, on September 16 and NCC headquarters, Mumbai, on September 23 by the ADG, a copy of which was also sent to me. The entire process generated no information on the Army officers responsible or the court martial,” said Ingale.

“A chargesheet has been filed against Ghanekar, who is currently out on bail. We are waiting for the hearing to begin,” said a police official from Deccan Police Station.

The month after that, on October 7, 2014, Ingale once again sent an application under the RTI Act to Public Information Officer, NCC Headquarters, Pune, which was forwarded to Director General, NCC, New Delhi, by the Pune office on November 5. “A reply was received stating that information has been requested from the NCC directorate, Mumbai and the information will be collected and forwarded at the earliest. Again there was no concrete reply and I filed a first appeal on December 10 to Deputy Director General, NCC, Mumbai, which drew no reply. Another appeal was filed to ADG, Army Education, New Delhi, which forwarded the application to Deputy DG, NCC, Mumbai on February 18. Then again I wrote a letter to the NCC Mumbai office asking for a reply to my RTI appeals. Finally, a copy of Range Standing Orders was issued on February 24 which gave information on the ‘do’s and don’ts’ during firing practice. But still there is no reply to the actual questions I have asked,” said Ingale.

Now, as per the Range Standing Orders, Officer in Charge or OIC, should be of the rank of CO/OC and will be responsible for the safety aspects of firing. A Firing Point Officer of the rank of JCO should be physically present during firing. “None of these officers were present during the time of incidence. These were the people who should have made sure that when students are firing in lying position, nobody should stand behind them and fire because there is always a possibility one of them will get up and get hurt,” said Ingale. “The FIR report says that all of these officers were sitting inside when the incident happened, either having food or in other administrative work… I want to know what action has been taken on these officers because it is due to their carelessness that my son is in this state today. Army is protecting those officers despite the fact that I filed so many RTIs,” Ingale said.

Ingale has left no stone unturned for seeking justice. “I have written to the Prime Minister, President, Chief Minister etc. I have also given the entire case file to an MP who gave the file to Manohar Parrikar when he was in town last month. I know all this will not bring back my son. But people have to understand that when your 15-year-old son, who had his whole life ahead of him, is in a vegetative state because of sheer carelessness of others, what one hopes for is some sort of justice. I want the people responsible to be behind bars so that it sets some kind of precedence.”

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