The wife of an allegedly mutinous paramilitary soldier was not allowed to meet her incarcerated husband, despite an order from the High Court.

Armed with an order from the Shillong Bench of the Gauhati High Court, Bibi Shahar Bano and her kids travelled all the way from Bihar to Manipur to meet her husband Haider Ali, a rifleman of the Assam Rifles (AR) who has been held captive in a camp of the paramilitary force at Ukhrul district since January.

Bano, along with her children and brother-in-law, spent two days at the AR camp, but was not allowed to meet her husband.

Rifleman Ali was put under detention under the Army Act on January 16, after he led a signature campaign within the AR seeking better pay and facilities for himself and his colleagues.

As the AR refused to disclose the whereabouts of the incarcerated soldier to his family, Ali’s wife moved the Gauhati High Court with a Habeas Corpus petition. “The High Court on June 19 last directed the AR to allow my client to visit her husband at the place where he is kept in custody,” said Bano’s lawyer Raghvendra Jha.

Bano and her brother-in-law Akhtar reached Imphal on September 18. The AR personnel escorted them to Ukhrul — around 90 km from Imphal — the next day. They were lodged in a family quarters in the camp.

“We could not meet the commandant of the AR unit there. My sister-in-law repeatedly requested the other officials to allow her to see her husband. But they turned down our requests although we had an order from the High Court,” Akhtar told Deccan Herald.

When contacted, the AR spokesman Col L M Pant said it would not be proper for him to make a comment on a matter which is sub judice.

Court martial
Jha said that the AR had not yet initiated a proper court martial proceeding against Ali despite holding him captive — allegedly in a 7 ft x 6 ft room with no bed or light – for the last 8 months.

The AR is administered by the Ministry of Home Affairs, but operates under the Army. 

It was shaken by a mutiny last year, when Ali led a signature campaign demanding better pay and parity with the army personnel. Nearly 1900 soldiers had signed a petition to the President.