5 years of injustice and Human Rights Violation

Now it is more than 5 years since our friend, Brig Ujjal Dasgupta is rotting in the Tihar Cental jail meant for hard core criminals.

We avoid talking about it because of a misplaced feeling that it is unpleasant and that his name will get further spoiled (as if people already do not know the incident, the case or the aftermath)

Another pernicious tendency is to distance oneself from the accused because it is his battle. This tendency comes from the received wisdom during the service tenure where all people cut off any contact with the one who has come under the cloud for ones own career risk avoidance reasons. (You know exactly what I am talking about!)

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B5gmTyGHnWOjMmEyNDViNDctZjRlYi00NThmLWE0NGUtNGMzZGU1NGVlOWI1&hl=en

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B5gmTyGHnWOjZWU2NzBjZWEtNzE1Mi00NzcxLWI3YWQtODRhZWY4NGM1MTNj&hl=en&invite=CKfN5bMB

The whole thing is total bogus will be seen from the analysis of the above.
Here are some of the questions I raised after some research and analysis of  the above:

1. Has UD obtained a soft copy (electronic) of the JPEG document  from the forensic lab
   
2. Has he got the binary of the MCTE stegnography software anywhere?
3. Has he got the soft copy of the carrier file ( the rental agreement file)?
4. Have the Forensic lab carried out a number of trials with images and steg coding and their analysis to establish the level of accuracy of the tool especially when they believe the encoding was dome by the software in the thumb drive?
5. Have they established  average probability and threshold of detecting stenography in the case of Known-Stego Attack :When you conduct this type of attack, you have knowledge of the algorithm that is used to create the stenographic content, and the original file, and the file that has the hidden information are available to you. If the average probability  in such experiments are high, then you know 38% probability reported is too low.
6. 38% probability of presence of stenography is same as 62% probability of absence of stenography. Instead of 38%, even if it is very high probability  of presence, in such tools there is a very high false positives. Is UD aware of this?
7. Is UD aware that these Forensic lab people are NOT "experts" in stenography but they just run the tool and collect the results. Ability to drive a car does not mean a person is expert in automobile engineering. Is UD and his lawyer aware that the so called "expert" can be pinned down by appropriate questioning ?
8. Isn't UD aware that even if the presence of stenographic encoding is proved "beyond reasonable doubt" it does not prove the crime. The burden of proof of crime is still left with the prosecution because
   
1. Possession of stenographic software by itself is not a crime. There are many available in public domain.
2. Possession of the JPEG file of the rental agreement is NOT a crime.
3. Possession of a encoded file on which the software is run is NOT a crime because any one including a school student can run the software. ( UD's statement that he does not even know how to run the software wont contain any weight at all.)
4. The fact that UD knows how to conceal messages in stegnography is also NOT a crime.
9. Was active steganalysis in addition to passive steganalysis done and was any credible message derived out of the purported sample? (Passive steganalysis: Detect the presence or absence of a secret message in an observed message. Active steganalysis: Extract a (possibly approximate) version of the secret message from a stego message.  This task is much easier in this instant case because the only unknown is the secret message encoded and the rest are presumably known.)
10. What is the actual charge sheet  which the prosecution will have to prove "beyond reasonable doubt".?

Here is some material for reading:
 http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/july2004/research/2004_03_research01.htm


I am getting in touch with some researchers working in this area. It is not difficult to prove some of the facts about the large  false positives  in case of stegnoanalysis.


Ask UD to cheer up because it is tough for prosecution to prove any crime "beyond reasonable doubt".(I know it is easier said than to believe considering his state of mind in the current situation.)  There may be delays due to court red tapes but essentially prosecution has a very weak case. Technology can not obfuscate the basic difficulty.


In the meanwhile I am continuing with my study and analysis.



If page 5 of  https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B5gmTyGHnWOjZWU2NzBjZWEtNzE1Mi00NzcxLWI3YWQtODRhZWY4NGM1MTNj&hl=en&invite=CKfN5bMB is the country's  secret that he purported to have concealed in his thumb drive, and for which he is  incarcerated in Thihar jail for 5 long years along with the hard core criminals of the country, GOD save our government and  the justice system  of our glorious nation!

We need to raise the conscience of our course mates, veterans and the country against the human rights violation being committed against our friend. He is one of the finest officers amongst us needs no emphasis and yet no ones conscience is pricked by the injustice meted out to him by the very nation that he served gloriously for 40 years.
Nath