HC relief for slain BSF official’s widow

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 25

About 25 years after a retired Border Security Force (BSF) official and his minor son were gunned down by the CRPF after being mistaken for militants, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has found the state blameworthy for adopting a “totally unreasonable” stand against granting compassionate appointment to the adopted son of the official’s widow.

The state government’s stand in the case was that the policy permitted the appointment to the adopted dependent son. But the son was adopted by the victim’s wife and not by him during his lifetime.

Coming to the widow’s rescue, Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain has set aside the rejection order and directed the respondents to consider the case for compassionate appointment to her “adopted dependent unmarried son”. For the purpose, Justice Jain has set a two-month deadline.

The High Court has made it clear that a minor son adopted by the widow would get the same benefit as a child adopted by the husband before his death in the matters of compassionate appointment.

The petitioner, Sukhwinder Kaur, had forwarded an application to the Tarn Taran Deputy Commissioner for the employment of her adopted son on compassionate grounds after he completed B.Com.

Her counsel, Navkiran Singh, had told the court that the petitioner’s husband, Gurcharan Singh, son Karanvir Singh and three other persons were killed by the CRPF after being mistaken for terrorists.

Navkiran argued that the son adopted by the widow got transplanted from the family of his parents to the adoptive family and became the son not only of the widow but also of her deceased husband.