Odia Soldier Missing Since 1965 Indo-Pak War, NHRC Directs to Search for Him

New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) directed the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to initiate action in relation to a complaint related to the disappearance of an Odia jawan of the Indian Army since the 1965 India-Pakistan war.

This missing jawan is Anand Patri from Odisha’s Bhadrak district. It is reported that this sepoy of the Corps of Engineers Personnel is lodged in Lahore prison in Pakistan.

The NHRC, while hearing a petition filed by human rights activist Radhakanta Tripathy on August 25, has asked the Union Home Ministry to take up the matter with Pakistan to trace out Patri.

As per the petition, the family members of the missing jawan have not received any legal dues since he disappeared.

In 2021, the NHRC had directed the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to initiate action in the matter but the External Affairs Ministry had passed off the responsibility to the Defence Ministry as Patri was an Army jawan.

Patri’s family resides in the Kalyani area of Dhamnagar block in the Bhadrak district.

Patri’s son Bidyadhar came to know about his father in Pakistan’s prison through a newspaper publication in 2003. It was reported that Patri lodged in Lahore jail had lost his memory.

In 2006, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had written a letter to former foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee to help the family.