SHILLONG: On February 7, 1968, an Indian Air Force AN-12 aircraft went missing somewhere in the snow-capped mountains beyond Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh. Air Force warrant officer SD Bhattacharjee was among those on board.
Five decades later, Bhattacharjee’s surviving family — a daughter and two sons — in Mission Compound, Jowai was “shocked” to hear that the body has finally been found.
“We were six siblings, three of whom are dead. We were small and my younger brother was an infant when father went missing but when we came to know about the recovery of his body, we were really shocked. Just imagine after 50 years…” daughter Alina Bareh told The Shillong Times on phone.
Parts of the missing aircraft, which was ferrying military men and air force crew and went missing on the way to Chandigarh Air Force base, were recovered last August by an expedition of the Dogra Scouts. More than 100 on board died.
The Western Command had launched an operation last July to recover the mortal remains of over 90 missing soldiers and after 13 days of search in the Dhaka Glacier at an altitude of 5,240 m, the team recovered parts of the aircraft like the aero engine, fuselage and electric circuits. Among the items salvaged from the crash site were personal belongings of some passengers.
Sources said that because of the snow, several bodies could still be found and among them were Bhattacharjee’s remains. The Khasi Ex-servicemen Community, Shillong, helped the Air Force trace the family in West Jaintia Hills.
There were rumours that the aircraft might have had strayed into enemy territory.
Alina, who was only 3 years old when her father went missing, said her mother, RT Bareh, would never tell the children that their father had died and kept the family’s hopes alive. “She would also say that he might have been taken prisoner in the enemy territory. There were so many wars going on that time,” she added.
The family initially stayed in the Chandigarh military base. Bhattacharjee joined the service in 1943 and was in his forties when he died.
Alina’s mother was a nurse in the army and died 10 years after the mishap. She was 42. She had to struggle a lot to raise the children after the fateful incident.
“I think my mother had quit her job when my parents got married. You can understand how difficult it would be for a single mother of six with barely any source of income,” Alina recollected.
Recently, military officials from Shillong visited the family in Jowai. When asked about the mortal remains of their father, Alina informed that the officials said “they would try their best to bring the body back but because of the lockdown and the pandemic, I am not sure how much it is possible”.
Defence sources said bringing the bodies is unlikely but all the deceased personnel would be treated as martyrs and their last rites would be with full honour. There is a plan to hold a tri-services memorial and Bhattacharjee’s family may be flown to Delhi. When asked for confirmation, Alina said, “I am not sure. Is it so? Well, the officials told us that they would inform us later. But we cannot go there by ourselves.”
Asked whether the family got defence pension, Alina answered in the negative. “We were still young when they passed away and we did not know. In 2013, we went to Shillong to find out about the pension and information about my father but since we did not have any identity, we didn’t get help,” she added.
M Rymbui, a family friend who stays in the same locality, knew the family for a long time. Bhattacharjee was known as ‘Pilot’ in the locality. “The family came back to Jowai in 1968 or ’69 to the mother’s house. They only knew that the plane crashed,” he said.
Now, the family is waiting for a final word on the last rites from the defence personnel. “We would like to see his body once. You know, seeing is believing. Also, we have vague memory of him and this will be an emotional moment for the family,” the daughter in her 50s added.
