Martyred: Capt. Saurabh Kalia was captured and killed by Pakistan during the Kargil conflict

They sent him back to India with his eardrums pierced with hot rods, eyes punctured and removed, most of his teeth and bones broken, and limbs and genitals cut or chopped off.

Capt. Saurabh Kalia, of the 4 Jat Regiment, was captured by Pakistani troops along with five other Indian soldiers on May 15, 1999. He was held in captivity and tortured gruesomely, but the brave soldier did not betray his motherland.

When their bodies were handed over to India by the Pakistan Army on June 9 the same year, there was nation-wide outrage and a cry for justice against the way these prisoners of war were treated, in violation to the Geneva Convention on treatment of war prisoners.

Sixteen years from then, the government of the day - the same government that had mouthed muscular rhetoric against Pakistan - has said in Parliament that it is not feasible for India to pursue the matter in the international court of law.

Even after a video, which went viral on YouTube a year ago, of a Pakistani soldier admitting that the 32-year-old Indian Army officer was tortured and killed during the 1999 Kargil war which took place when the Vajpayee-led government was in power, the Modi government has now decided to bury the case. It claims moving the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Pakistan, a demand made by Kalia’s father in the Supreme Court, will not be practicable.

Even as PM Narendra Modi speaks up on the radio for the brave, unsung soldier risking his life and limb at the border, his government has towed the line of the UPA regime on the Kalia issue.

This comes a blow not only to the 66-year-old N.K. Kalia, who has been running from pillar to post for the past 16 years to secure justice for his son, but also all Indians who want justice for the hero of the 1999 war, who first reported large-scale incursions by the Pakistan Army.

The UPA government had told the Supreme Court in February last year that it cannot move the ICJ as Pakistan might not permit it, and no country can be so compelled to.

The Manmohan Singh government also shockingly went to the extent of saying that the effect on relations with “our neighbour country” has to be kept in mind, and that “moving the ICJ is not a legally enforceable right”.

Same stand drawn

“I had expected the BJP government to be more patriotic. Sadly, the new government’s stand remains the same despite change of power at the Centre. This is amply clear from Minister of State for Foreign Affairs V. K. Singh’s reply to MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar’s question in Parliament,” says N.K. Kalia.

Saurabh Kalia's parents stand by a photograph of their son. They have fought tirelessly for justice since his body was returned by Pakistan on June 9, 1999, bearing multiple signs of torture.

To Chandrashekhar’s question on whether the government proposed to take up the killing of Saurabh and five other soldiers by the Pakistan army with the United Nations Human Rights Commission, and move the ICJ to pressurise Pakistan to identify and punish all perpetrators, Singh had recently replied: “The attention of the international community has already been drawn to these heinous and barbaric acts of Pakistan army including through a statement to the UN general assembly in New York on September 22, 1999, and to the Commission of Human Rights in April 2000. The possibility of seeking legal remedies through the international courts was also thoroughly examined, but not found feasible.”

The Supreme Court has now asked the Modi government to make its stand clear through an affidavit by August 25, the next date of hearing.

N.K. Kalia had moved the Supreme Court in 2012 seeking a direction to MEA to approach the ICJ for action against Pakistani army men who killed his son in violation of ‘Geneva Convention on treatment of war prisoners’.

The court has been repeatedly snubbing the MEA, saying it had surrendered even before filing the case.

“It would have been more befitting had the government approached the ICJ with all proofs and documentary evidences and might have lost,” said the SC.

"The video proved my son did not die due to bad weather but was killed in the hands of his captors. He was tortured. It is surprising that the Centre has not considered the new evidence which has come on record, and still goes by Pakistan version," said a distraught Kalia.

Going soft

“Why is Indian government going soft on Pakistan even after several wars, continuing infiltration, and export of terror? It is not just an issue of my son, but no other Indian soldier shall be treated like this. There should be a deterrent,” he said, adding that he will submit CDs of the Pakistani soldier’s TV confession to the apex court.