A woman, whose husband went missing from aircraft carrier INS Viraat around ten years ago, has moved the Bombay High Court challenging the Navy declaring her husband a 'deserter'.
According to petitioner Pratibha Raghuram, she was evicted from her house in Navy Nagar in Mumbai in December 1998, barely one month after her husband Raghuram went missing from INS Viraat, which was docked in Goa.
He was working as a technician in the electrical department.
Raghuram was declared a 'deserter' by the authorities, and Pratibha was deprived of all the facilities that she would have otherwise been entitled to.
As per Navy records, Raghuram went missing on November 10, 1998 and an arrest warrant was also issued against him a month later.
During the hearing in the High Court, Pratibha's lawyer pointed out that a head-count was conducted when the ship left Goa. At that point Raghuram's absence should have been noticed, but no action was taken to trace him at that point.
However, his personal belongings were found on the ship.
The Division bench of Justice Bilal Nazki and Justice Ashok Bhangale has now asked the Navy to produce the ship's liberty register, which is signed by the crew at the time of entering or leaving the ship, on that day.
If Raghuram is finally held to be a 'deserter' by the court, Pratibha would lose his provident fund and family pension.
