The Asian Age: New Delhi: Saturday, December 16, 2017.
There is no
term as “martyr” or “shaheed” in the Army or the police and instead a soldier
or a policeman killed in action is called a “battle casualty” or “operations
casualty” respectively, the ministries of defence and home have submitted
before the Central Information Commission.
The issue
surfaced after an RTI applicant approached the Union home ministry seeking to
know the meaning and detailed definition of word “shaheed” (martyr) according
to the law and the Constitution.
He also asked
about the legal provisions to ensure restriction on its misuse and punishment
for violation.
The
application was transferred to different officials of the home and defence
ministries but when the applicant could not get a satisfactory response, he
approached the CIC, the highest appellate body in matters relating to the Right
to Information Act.
The
respondents from the ministries of defence and the home affairs were present
and heard, Information Commissioner Yashovardhan Azad said.
“The
respondent from the ministry of defence stated that word ‘shaheed’ or ‘martyr’
is not used by the MoD. Instead the one used is ‘battle casualty’. The
respondent from the ministry of home affairs stated that in the MHA the word
used is ‘operations casualty’,” Azad said.
Quoting the
submissions, he noted that the decision to declare cases of ‘battle casualty’
and ‘ops’ were taken after a report of a court of inquiry in both the matters.
“After
hearing the respondents and the perusal of the record, the commission finds
that the averments made by both the respondents have duly explained the correct
usage of the terms and directs the respondents to send a revised reply to the
appellant accordingly,” he said.
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