Interview in Times of India on Jadhav issue

The issue of Kulbhushan Jadhav’s sham trial by a military Court in Pakistan has truly hurt the conscience of all those who believe in the rule of law.

My Question and Answer session on the subject was published on the editorial page of The Times of India.

The same can be accessed here.

Path-breaking move by the Ministry of Home Affairs for the bravehearts of the Central Armed Police Forces

There would be naysayers who would spare no effort to look down upon this move, but to apolitical persons like us, this is one of the most path-breaking concepts brought about by the Central Government for brave-hearts of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) the nation lost in the line of duty.

www.BharatKeVeer.gov.in is a website where any individual can contribute directly to the accounts of the kin of bravehearts of the CAPFs. The amount can either be contributed to the fund of the kin or to the “Bharat Ke Veer” corpus. A maximum contribution of Rupees Fifteen Lakhs can be made to the kin directly, and in case a higher contribution is made, then the amount over and above Rupees Fifteen Lakhs can be transferred to the corpus or to the account of the kin of another braveheart. 

The corpus would be managed by a committee of eminent personalities and senior government functionaries.

The concept is applicable to 8 CAPFs, including the Assam Rifles and National Security Guard.

Gratitude also goes out to Mr Akshay Kumar for his contribution to this cause and also to the leadership of CAPFs for strongly standing behind their men and women in uniform. 

SC comes to the rescue of an HIV+ veteran- grants him Disability Pension

In what may be quite a progressive decision by the Supreme Court, a soldier suffering from AIDS and Meningitis has been granted disability pension by the Supreme Court, which was earlier refused by the Army and then also the Armed Forces Tribunal.

HIV+ population continues to suffer stigma in our nation and the military population declared HIV+ faces another major issue, and that is the fact that such soldiers can be discharged from service on medical grounds- at times without pension in case the condition is declared “neither attributable to, nor aggravated by military service”.

Though a harmonious interpretation of the rules would show that the condition needs to be declared attributable to service if the cause is unknown and can only be declared “not related to service” in case the reason is directly discernable such as contact with a commercial sex worker, more often than not, medical boards declare it ‘not related to service’ even if the reason remains unknown. Of course, it is well understood that there are plenty of ways how the virus can spread, and the individual may not even be at fault for his condition, but the stigma till date in our nation is such that personnel affected by the virus are left to fend for their own.

This decision is not just in line with the global effort to make AIDS less stigmatic but also protects the life and liberty of the individual by providing him and his family a means of a dignified life through disability pension and also ensuring medical treatment via the military medical establishment which is only permissible to pensioners as far as in-patient treatment is concerned.