Wife Seeks Justice for Army Soldier Missing Since 1990, Still Listed as Deserter After 36 Years

Kolkata: More than three decades after an Indian Army soldier disappeared while returning to his unit, his wife has once again approached the police in Kolkata, hoping that a formal investigation into his disappearance could help change his status from “deserter” to “missing” and allow the family to claim pensionary benefits.

Arokia Mary Rajan, 61, a resident of Sarsuna, has sought the registration of an FIR and a formal closure report regarding the disappearance of her husband, Edwin Rajan, who has remained untraced since January 1990.

Edwin Rajan was serving as a naik and clerk with the Army Service Corps and was posted at Dalhousie Cantonment in Himachal Pradesh. According to his family, he had been on leave in Kolkata and was staying at the family quarters at Strand Lines, Fort William.

On January 18, 1990, Rajan left Kolkata to return to his unit after completing his leave. However, he never reached his posting. Subsequent enquiries with his Army unit reportedly failed to establish what had happened to him.

His wife maintains that she had informed Hastings police station about his disappearance at the time. However, after more than 36 years, she no longer has a copy of the original complaint or its general diary number.

With Rajan failing to report back to duty and remaining untraceable, the Army eventually recorded him as a deserter. His family, however, has consistently disputed the classification, arguing that there is no evidence that he intentionally abandoned military service.

Mrs Rajan believes her husband may have met with an accident or some other untoward incident while travelling from Kolkata to his posting. Some accounts surrounding the latest complaint have also referred to the possibility that he may have been abducted by unidentified persons.

Efforts to establish his whereabouts continued over the years. In 1995, the commanding officer of the Bengal Area Provost Unit of the Military Police reportedly raised the matter with Hastings police.

Mrs Rajan again approached Hastings police in 2013 and subsequently submitted a representation to the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) at Lalbazar in 2018. Despite these efforts, the circumstances surrounding her husband's disappearance remained unresolved.

The family says the consequences have extended far beyond the unanswered question of what happened to Rajan. Mrs Rajan raised three children without financial assistance from the Army and has been unable to obtain family pension because her husband's service record continues to classify him as a deserter.

She has now approached the police again, seeking an FIR and an official finding regarding the decades-old disappearance.

Police have accepted the latest complaint and are examining available records. Reconstructing a case dating back to 1990 is expected to be challenging, particularly because investigators would need to establish Rajan's movements after he left Fort William and determine whether he boarded a train from Howrah or disappeared somewhere along the journey.

Under the procedure governing unauthorised absence in the Army, a soldier who fails to report for duty is initially considered absent without leave. If the individual remains missing for 30 days, proceedings under Section 106 of the Army Act can involve a court of inquiry, following which the individual may be treated as a deemed deserter.

Such a classification has significant consequences for the soldier's family. A person recorded as a deserter is ordinarily not entitled to the same pensionary benefits that may become available when a serviceman is officially recognised as missing or is found to have died while in service.

The family hopes that a police investigation could establish that Rajan did not deliberately abandon his Army service. If authorities conclude that his disappearance resulted from an accident, crime or another circumstance beyond his control, the family could seek reconsideration of the deserter classification.

Any change in his official status would be an important step before the family could pursue a claim for family pension and other applicable benefits.

For Mrs Rajan, the renewed police complaint represents another attempt to resolve a mystery that has remained unanswered since January 1990. After 36 years, the family is seeking both clarity over what happened to Edwin Rajan and official recognition that his disappearance may not have been an act of desertion.