The Indian police have filed over 700-page charge sheet and annexure before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja sought the prosecution of the Indian Foreign Service Group B officer under various provisions of the Official Secrets Act and the Indian Penal Code. Police has cited 30 witnesses to buttress the charges against Gupta.
According to the charge sheet, filed in July last year by Indian authorities, she had an affair with Jamshed, whom she planned to marry. She used to communicate with Jamshed who had a code name 'Jim'. According to Indian officials she had also visited Jammu and Kashmir in March last year on the instructions of Rana to procure the Annual Plan Report of the state. Rana wanted information on the proposed 310 MW hydro-electric power project to be set up in the state by 2020.
This is just one side of the story and we do not know the other side of the argument. Indian intelligence agencies are expert in making such fabricated stories to tight noose against Pakistan. It is also a possibility that might be part of systematic propaganda against Pakistan’s ISI by Americans and now India is also playing its role in it by putting such fictitious stories.
There is dichotomy in the Indian claims, on one side they say that she passed very sensitive information and should be given severe punishment but on the side they believe that she passed only fractional information. The Indian Intelligence Bureau investigator says the only sensitive material that ex-diplomat has managed to pass on to Pakistan concerned “partial information on India's strategic plans in Afghanistan.” According to Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur, "The position occupied by the official did not involve access to highly classified material”. Indian police has also claimed that there is no evidence to suggest that Madhuri Gupta passed on any vital information to Pakistani agencies. It is a possibility that most of the information she gave were personal details of the Indian High Commission staff, such an information is not vital for Pakistan. Because keeping in mind old strife with Pakistan, India will never carryout any malicious activity from Islamabad that might embarrass Indian Government.
It is an open secret that both countries keep 24/7 vigilance on the movement of mission staff. However, it is more secure for India to carry out its covert mission from Afghanistan than from Pakistan.
According to Indian police officials, Madhuri Gupta was not a senior officer and could not have passed on sensitive information to her contacts in Pakistan where she was posted in the Indian High Commission. But she said she had revealed the identities of Indian undercover agents in Pakistan. This statement is also ambiguous, if she had no access to sensitive information, how can she know the whereabouts of Indian undercover agents in Pakistan. However, this type of blame game will never end between India and Pakistan. It is imperative for both countries to realize this fact that such malpractices would destabilize the whole region. This is the time to mend difference, bridge gaps, build trust and promote friendship, only then we can promise a better future for our coming generations.