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Former Diplomat Madhuri Gupta Convicted Of Passing Info To ISI

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Poorvi Gupta
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diplomat Madhuri Gupta

A Delhi court recently convicted ex-diplomat Madhuri Gupta of passing secret information to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) while she was on duty in Islamabad in 2010.

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Delhi Police’s special cell arrested Gupta around eight years ago. However, it is only now that the bench of Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma found Gupta guilty under various provisions of the Official Secrets Act (OSA), including spying and wrongful communication of classified information.

The bench, however, freed 61-year-old Gupta from stringent provisions of OSA that involves a maximum punishment of up to 14 years since the prosecution could not prove it.

“She did not pass documents to her handlers. To my mind, e-mail is not helpful to the prosecution to establish a case against the accused attracting 14 years of imprisonment,” the court said in its 40-page order, Indian Express reported.

The court declared that for it to prosecute Gupta on OSA, it is obligatory to prove that the information shared by Gupta to ISI had caused any prejudice to the nation's safety and interest.

The bench has convicted the accused of offences under Section 3(1)(c) and section 5 (wrongful communication of information) of OSA, read with 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. The conviction has landed her in jail for a maximum of three years. After ordering the conviction, the court granted Gupta bail so she can contest her conviction and sentence.

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The prosecution claimed that the Ministry of External Affairs had received information that Gupta had unauthorised contacts with Pakistani intelligence officials. It said she was passing on sensitive official information personally as well as through electronic means from her computer at her office and residence in Islamabad.

It further alleged that the accused passed on the information to the ISI handlers through her e-mail account from October 2009 to April 2010.

The court declared that for it to prosecute Gupta on OSA, it is obligatory to prove that the information shared by Gupta to ISI had caused any prejudice to the nation's safety and interest

The court said Gupta had served in different embassies and at the time of the offence, she was in a very sensitive position in the high commission.

"Undoubtedly, from a person of her stature, it was expected that she would act in a more responsible manner than an ordinary citizen as she was at a high position of trust but her actions tarnished the image of the country and has caused severe threat to the security of the country.

"Therefore, she does not deserve any leniency in punishment," the court said, TNIE reported.

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It noted that various electronic gadgets, including laptops and Blackberry mobile phones which she purchased in her name, contained e-mails sent to various ISI handlers.

Gupta was the Second Secretary (Press & Information) at the high commission from 2007 till her arrest on April 22, 2010.

Picture Credit: Jansatta

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Pakistan dipplomat ISI madhuri gupta spying
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