Compassion for Fallen Soldier

I am attaching herewith two News Paper reports on a verdict delivered by Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) Chandigarh regarding payment of compensation to the widows of a soldier who was killed on his way to the loo to relieve himself while on duty.

The perverse interpretation of the rule by the bureaucracy made the women run around the courts and pay for legal expenses to get justice from the AFT.

The question is, isn’t there any senior bureaucrat, ministers or the legal experts in the administration who can apply their mind and avoid widows of soldiers, often uneducated, with very limited financial resources going around fighting a legal battle with the Government? Isn’t this a shame? It is for the educated and the elites to think and do something about it.

Will the bureaucracy at least now pay the compensation to the affected widows and end their agony? Going by the past record of the Government and its ways, they are bound to go on appeal to the Supreme Court.

Let us wait and watch.

--

Soldier taking toilet break during working hours should be considered on duty: Tribunal
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Soldier-taking-toilet-break-during-working-hours-should-be-considered-on-duty-Tribunal/articleshow/21350476.cms?
Ajay Sura, TNN | Jul 26, 2013, 02.44 AM IST

CHANDIGARH: A soldier taking a loo break during work hours should be deemed on duty for the nation, the armed forces tribunal (AFT) in Chandigarh said on Thursday while ordering Rs10 lakh compensation for a jawan's widow.

The widow, Daxina Devi, was denied compensation as her husband, sepoy Lakshman Kumar, was on his way to toilet when he suffered head injuries after a fall along the India-China border in Ladakh on August 15, 2009. The soldier of the Dogra Regiment died four days later.

Justice Vinod Kumar Ahuja-led AFT bench ordered the compensation meant for soldiers killed on duty in Kumar's case with an additional 10% interest.

Devi, a resident of Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh, had challenged the decision to deny her compensation on hyper technical grounds and called it perverse. She said it was illogical.

'It was a casualty'

A court of inquiry had declared the soldier's death as a casualty in an operational area. However, Allahabad-based principal controller of defence accounts (PCDA) denied Devi compensation given to soldiers who die on bona fide military duty, saying he was not on duty when he suffered injuries.

"It seems strange that the office of the PCDA is suggesting that a person should not even go out to attend the nature's call and if he does, he shall not be considered on duty during those particular moments,'' Devi said in her petition before the ATF in November 2012. "Such an approach of authorities is also against the very existence of human biology.''

Armed Forces Tribunals have powers similar to high courts and handle military related matters.