By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
A war thousands of kilometres away from Uttarakhand has left a family in Ramnagar area in Nainital district counting the days without a father.
Captain Ajay Pant, an Indian seafarer, has been languishing in a UK prison since his arrest in June in a case linked to Britain’s sanctions regime against Russia amid the Russia-Ukraine war. While the legal battle plays out in Britain, his young daughters are left with one painful question every morning: “When will Papa come home?”
Pant, 38, was arrested after British authorities intercepted the oil tanker Smyrtos, which he was captaining, in the English Channel. He has been charged with sanctions-related offences carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years.
For his family, however, the geopolitical conflict between Russia and Ukraine has acquired a deeply personal dimension.
In two recent emotional posts on social media, Ajay Pant’s wife Ritu spoke of the anguish of a family that has spent more than 50 days waiting for the return of a husband and father. Despite her appeals to various quarters, she said, there has been no breakthrough and her voice continues to remain unheard.
“My husband, Captain Ajay Pant, an Indian seafarer, has been fighting each day in a UK prison, away from his family and loved ones. We need your voice, support and prayers to bring him home,” she wrote in her Independence Day post, urging people to share her message and stand with Ajay.
In another post, Ritu Pant spoke of her daughters’ growing wait for their father and said the family wakes up every morning hoping that a miracle will bring him home.
The posts, however, appear to have received little wider attention, leaving the family feeling increasingly helpless as Pant’s incarceration continues.
Ritu has maintained that her husband was doing his job as a seafarer and has described him as a “scapegoat”. Pant’s trial is scheduled to begin on December 15, 2026.
For the Pant family, the Russia-Ukraine conflict is no longer a distant geopolitical story. Its consequences, they say, are being felt every morning in a home where two daughters continue to wait for their father.
Caption: Ritu Pant recently shares a picture of her husband on X.