I prayed for death: Indian soldier who strayed into Pakistan

Mumbai: The Indian soldier who was returned by Pakistan after four months in captivity said he was so fed up with torture by Pakistanis that he often prayed for death while in their custody.

"I was assaulted. I told them: Kill me. I realised that this was the end of the road for me," Chandu Babulal Chavan, who was handed over to India on January 21, said here today in conversation with a Marathi channel.

The 22-year-old had crossed into Pakistan on September 29, the day India hit terror launch pads across the line of control (LoC), 10 days after an attack by suspected Pakistani militants on a camp in Uri that killed 19 soldiers.

Chavan was posted on the LoC in the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir.

Describing the scenario after he was caught by Pakistani soldiers after straying across the border, Chavan said, "they checked me, took out my clothes, put on black robes (on me) and took me away in a vehicle."

"I was put in a room which was always dark. I did not understand a thing. The bathroom and toilets were also in the same room," the soldier, who returned to his native Borvihir village in Dhule district, earlier this month, told the channel.

"When I used to bang my head and ask them to kill me, they gave me injection doses. They used to beat me. There came a time that I didn't have any more tears in my eyes," he said.

"I did not understand whether it was day or night. I remembered my family in those harrowing times. I used to pray God to end my life," he said.

Describing the Pakistani torture, he said, "They used to give me sedatives through injection. They put drops in my ear when it was bleeding."

"There was a time when I told my captors that I had crossed into Pakistan to avenge the Uri terror attacks," he said.