AFT says battle casualties handled heartlessly - AFT says battle casualties handled heartlessly

AFT says battle casualties handled heartlessly Vijay Mohan/TNS
Chandigarh, September 29Placing on record its “great displeasure” over non-application of mind and showing heartlessness in dealing with battle casualties, the Armed Forces Tribunal has recently awarded costs of Rs 1 lakh to the wife of a disabled veteran who went missing four years ago.
The tribunal’s bench comprising Justice A.K. Mathur and Lt Gen M.L. Naidu has also directed the authorities concerned to release immediately liberalised family pension to the wife Geeta Devi along with the interest at the rate of 12 per cent from the date her husband went missing.
Geeta’s husband Yatender Singh had joined the Army in January 1999 and was deployed in Operation Rakshak / Operation Prakaram in J&K during 2003-04. In February 2004, he lost both his eyes, both hands and suffered gross injury to the right knee due to a mine detonation.
On July 24, 2006, he was being taken in a bus to Army Hospital, Delhi, by his friend. Due to some urgent work, his friend left him with the bus crew to be dropped in front of the hospital. As per the Army authorities, Yatender did not reach the hospital. An FIR was also lodged with the police. Thereafter, he was declared missing and ordinary family pension was released to Geeta, but no benefits pertaining to battle casualty were given.
The bench observed that the respondents had admitted Yatender was placed in low medical category but claimed that he was not on bonafide military duty at the time he went missing. “This is very unfortunate the way this widow has been dealt with by the respondents. It speaks volume for heartlessness and insensitivity. A person who has virtually become a living dead body, when he lost both the eyes, both the hands and received right knee injury and he was just surviving,” the bench said.
“As per rules, he should have been given a facility of an attendant to take him to the hospital but whole entreaties fell on deaf ears of an insensitive establishment. It was a very hard case in which the authorities should have provided an attendant who could have taken him from his house to the hospital but instead of this they left him dying and missing and dealt with the wife of the deceased by doling out an ordinary family pension,” the bench further observed.
Meanwhile, taking a serious view over non-compliance of its orders by the Territorial Army (TA), the AFT has summoned the force’s chief before it for an explanation.
The tribunal’s bench comprising Justice Ghanshyam Prashad and Lt Gen N.S. Brar has directed that Maj Gen A D S Grewal, Additional Director General, TA, appear before it on October 8, two days before he retires from service.
In February, the Tribunal had ordered reinstatement of a TA jawan, Pawan Kumar, who had been dismissed from service in 2007 on account of being placed in low medical category.
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Courage and Determination
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Sarika - the only woman officer at Nathu La Kusum Arora/TNS
Jalandhar, September 29It indeed requires a great amount of courage and determination to take on a challenge and perhaps a greater amount of motivation to fulfil it. But, Major Sarika Godbole, serving at a Mountain Brigade at Nathu La is indeed an exception.
At Nathu La, situated at a height of 14, 200 ft on the Indo-China border, extreme cold conditions and rugged terrain, she is the only woman officer posted in that area. Nathu La is the highest brigade headquarters falling under the Eastern Command.
The officer has been posted as an interpreter at the brigade headquarters since 2008 to decipher talks held during the annual flag meetings between India and China. The flag meetings are held twice a year. While on May 15, it is held on the Chinese side of the border, on September 15, it is held on the Indian side. “I am not doing anything special. It is a part of the duty and during the meetings, I translate talks for Indian as well as Chinese officers. It thrills me to serve in this part of the country,” she said.
She added that it was indeed a lifetime opportunity to serve in that area. “Usually not many women officers get a chance to serve in the field areas. Especially, serving at Nathu La on the Indo-China border is an experience in itself,” she quipped. “Initially, even I faced problems due to bad weather, but things became easy when I became completely acclimatised with the terrain. Jawans as well as officers undergo a three-stage acclimatisation to bear the extreme conditions,” she maintained.
The officer hailing from Nasik in Maharashtra, completed her MSc from Pune University and joined IIM, Ahmedabad, as joint professor. She passed out from Officers Training Academy, Chennai, and joined the Army Education Corps in 2003.