I am Wing Commander Suhas Dighe (retd). But this is not my story. It's about my friend. We call him just 'SK'. His full name is Wing Commander Sanjoy Kumar Singh Ramavatar.
SK is my course-mate (83rd Pilots Course). We passed out way back in March 1963. He was one of the finest fighter pilot Air Force produced. A Flying Trophy holder, he also had engineering bend of mind and was Fight Commander and also the Engineering Officer at the same time of a front line operational fighter squadron, a rare achievement not paralleled so far. An ace sportsman, he is also an artist of caliber as can be seen from the sketches done by him and placed in the blog.
Normally one expects such person with many assets and gifts to rise and shine like a meteor. Alas this was not to be. Why it didn't happen and why he had to call it quits with IAF is a fascinating story but invokes painful memories of the darkest chapter in the history of Indian Democracy-The Emergency. But that will have to wait. The fact is that he sought a premature retirement from Air Force after serving for 24 years and settled down in Udaipur.
But the destiny had some other plans. Right now SK is behind the bars ,convicted of manslaughter and has been awarded Life Imprisonment. He is doing his time in Udaipur Jail for the past five years. The trial in the so called fast track court itself took four years.
Knowing SK as a person we, that is his circle of acquaintance, never believed that he is a murderer. Bewildered, we followed his case through the fast track court and were aghast to see the gross miscarriage of justice and what can be confidently termed as an unholy union of the police and the judiciary. I call it a 'kangaroo' court where the cases are predetermined for vested interests. SK has gone for an appeal and it will take its own course and time But the sordid saga which I want narrate in SK's words numbs the mind.
During his not so honorable existence in the jail he wrote a diary, events that led to his conviction and thereafter. He continues to write. I would like to publish this diary in these blogs so people can form their own judgment. The diary also picks up other experiences, stories of the fellow inmates and gives a good idea of prison life. SK also sketched some of the inmates while writing. The sketches and the stories are fascinating.
I am starting this blog not with the events of the day he was arrested. The diary entjavascript:void(0)ries are selected randomly to build up SK's persona first. His style is rather abrasive at times , might bruise egos of some. But keeping in mind his mental state I request you not to mind it.
I am not adding any introduction to the names he writes about. The names or their relationships to SK don't matter. I am sure you will catch on ,as I did,as the script progresses. The first entry is dated 24th August 2004, when SK had already spent almost a year as an undertrial. This one is his narration of the train journey he made while being moved from Jaipur to Udaipur. The blogs will be added regularly the oldest at the bottom of the list under BLOG ARCHIVE. The blogs are grouped yearwise and within a year monthwise and so on. Please read on by clicking on the first blog :
Jaipur to Udaipur, then small bird and so on.
