Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 9

The Supreme Court has upheld a landmark decision of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) that had granted a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the widow of a soldier who had died in 1998 while in service due to alleged negligence on part of the Army authorities in handling his medical case.

The tribunal’s Chandigarh Bench, then comprising Justice Ghanshyam Prashad and Lt Gen HS Panag, had in 2011 ruled that callousness towards human life would not be tolerated and had granted the widow, Navindra Devi, Special Family Pension along with monetary compensation.

The petitioner’s husband had been posted near Bikaner when he developed psychiatric problems for which he was given electric shocks at a civil hospital. Thereafter, he was sent on leave to recuperate. A few days after returning from leave, the psychiatrically ill solider wandered out of the unit and went missing.

He was found near the Delhi Railway Station by the Government Railway Police, who requested the Army authorities to take him back. However, rather than sending a team to bring him back, his unit and military authorities in Delhi kept exchanging letters and shifting the onus on each other.

While the correspondence continued, the railway police let go of him when no one came to take him. His body was recovered the next day from a well.

The AFT had observed that there was negligence in handling the issue since no care was taken to keep the soldier under medical supervision and then to bring him back from the police. The AFT also observed that a court of inquiry was not held which was mandatory under rules and it was held 11 years after the death on judicial intervention. The Army had challenged the AFT’s order, but the apex court has dismissed the appeal and directed the government to release the amount to the aggrieved widow within eight weeks.

The case

• The petitioner’s husband, posted near Bikaner, developed psychiatric problems and was sent on leave. After returning, he wandered out of the unit
• He was found near the Delhi Railway Station by the police, who requested the Army authorities to take him back
• However, his unit and military authorities in Delhi kept on shifting the onus on each other. The police let him go. The soldier was found dead in a well a day later