HC: Denying pension to Martyr’s Mother is injustice

Bilaspur | Correspondent: In a significant decision, the Chhattisgarh High Court has ruled that denying pension to the mother of a martyr who sacrificed his life for the country is a grave injustice. A division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal, hearing a petition filed by 68-year-old Philisita Lakra of Jashpur district, ordered the state government to pay her pension and all past dues within six weeks.

The case concerns Ignatius Lakra, a constable of the 10th Battalion who was martyred in a Naxalite attack in 2002. The martyr's father, Lobin Lakra, had been receiving a pension until his death, but after his death in 2020, the administration refused to extend this benefit to the martyr's mother.

The treasury officer, citing the 1965 Police Rules, argued that there was no provision for transferring the pension to the mother after the father's death.

However, the petitioner's lawyer argued that the 1963 Rules for other civil service employees clearly provide for the mother's pension after the father's, making discrimination against police personnel's families unconstitutional.

Adopting the principle of "harmonious construction," the High Court stated that police personnel work in a hazardous environment, and therefore their families should not be disadvantaged compared to other employees. The court clarified that the beneficial provisions of the 1963 Rules should also be read into the 1965 Rules, which allowed the martyr's elderly mother to obtain justice after a four-year struggle.