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CHANDIGARH: Punjab and Haryana HC has ruled that if a soldier is killed by his colleague during duty hours, his family would be entitled to special family pension (SFP), instead of ordinary family pension as the death has a “causal connection with military duty.”
A division bench comprising Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Sudeepti Sharma passed these orders while allowing a plea by Omvati Devi, a resident of Gurgaon, for setting aside an order passed by Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) in Chandigarh on March 8, 2021, dismissing her plea for SFP.
The petitioner’s husband, Havildar Ramvir, joined Army (Corps of Signals) on Aug 16, 1983. He was allegedly murdered by Signalman PK Dey of the same unit on Jan 2, 2003, to prevent unnatural sex attempted by the deceased.
After her husband’s death, the petitioner was granted ordinary family pension. When she moved an application for grant of SFP, it was rejected on the ground that the death of her husband was owing to wound/injury, which was neither attributable to nor became aggravated by military service. The HC observed that since the soldier had been murdered while he was on duty at Armoured Brigade Signal Company, his demise is to be declared to have a causal connection with his rendering military service.
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