NARESH KUMAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Serving in the Indian Army is no child's play. It requires a body and mind of steel. Notwithstanding medical fitness to be a condition for securing every public employment, its importance is of greater value when employment is sought in the Indian Army and thus nobody is enrolled or commissioned in the Indian Army without being subjected to a rigorous physical fitness test as also medical fitness and only the best in body and mind are inducted in the Army. This is the preamble statement of learned counsel for the petitioner.

(2.) The petitioner was enrolled in the Indian Army as combatant soldier and was attached to the regiment of Artillery at Bikaner on 18.3.2005 and needless to state, before his enrolment was subjected to a physical endurance test as also a medical examination which he successfully cleared i.e. he was declared physically and medically fit for being a member of an Armed Force.

(3.) He had hardly served for about a year and 8 months, when he was detected with abnormal behaviour and his utterances showed that he was having hallucinations. He claimed that he was in communication with the soul of a dead friend. He became argumentative and in spite of counseling his behaviour did not change. He was sent on leave for 20 days and on return showed no improvement and one day threatened to run away from the quarter guard with his rifle. The day next he threw his identity card at the Subedar Major and at a Sainik Samellan he demanded to be sent back for recruit training. It was obvious that the superior officers found that the petitioner was having a psychiatric problem and thus he was produced before a Psychiatrist before whom petitioner admitted that his father had taken him to a Civil Psychiatrist and he was given medication. The petitioner was hospitalized and his behaviour was observed in the ward. It was noticed that petitioner used to wander aimlessly, slept poorly and claimed that his body and mind were controlled by the soul of his dead friend. He responded to treatment but was opined to be a vulnerable person. It be highlighted that petitioner was admitted in the Army Hospital on 1.11.2006 and brought before an Invaliding Medical Board on 9.1.2007 where he was assessed as a case of Schizophrenia and percentage of disability assessed was 30% for life. It was opined that the disability was neither attributable to nor aggravated by military services.