'Difficult for army men to manage social, professional life'

The Delhi High court has expressed concern over the lives led by military personnel, saying striking a balance between duty as a member of the armed forces and social obligations as a family member was always difficult.

"Striking a balance between discharge of duties as member of disciplined force and social obligations qua family has always been difficult for the members of armed forces as well paramilitary forces," the court said in its order.

The remark by the division bench of Justice Pratibha Rani and Justice Pradeep Nandrajog came Jan 6 while hearing a plea of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) official Kulrawat Singh, who was removed from service followed by departmental inquiry after he deserted the Todapur Camp here May 16, 2003 unauthorisedly without permission of the competent authority to attend the marriage of his brother-in-law.

Kulrawat Singh had applied for leave for six days well in advance to attend the marriage, but it was neither rejected nor sanctioned.

The bench set aside the penalty of removal from service and ordered his reinstatement.

However, it refused to grant him the benefit of arrear wages and said "denial of pecuniary benefits for the period he remained out of service would be a sufficient penalty for him".

The court observed that a long procedure has to be followed for taking leave for attending social obligations and the CISF official was confused over deciding whether to face departmental action or attend the marriage as his own marital life was under threat.

Kulrawat Singh's wife had already warned him of serious consequences if he failed to attend the marriage of her brother, the court noted.

"Caught in the above situation, though with no previous act of indiscipline ever committed by him, after losing hope of leave being sanctioned to him, he decided to leave the camp to attend the marriage... perhaps to save his family life and to avoid humiliation to his wife during the marriage ceremony of his brother-in-law," the court said.

It said Kulrawat Singh committed an act of indiscipline just to save his marital life.