Twenty years after her husband was abducted by criminals and then killed, a woman will get a job to support the family and also Rs 2 lakh in damages.
Sharing its empathy, the Supreme Court has ordered Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) to give compassionate appointment and also pay in compensation Rs 2 lakh to the woman, whose husband was abducted when he resisted a burglary at the PSU’s factory in West Bengal.
“She has been running from pillar to post for 20 years now. You should not oppose it anymore and give her and the family what they are entitled of…have some empathy for her,” a bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud told Additional Solicitor General Vikramjeet Banerjee.
The law officer was appearing for the subsidiary of the Coal India Ltd, and was arguing in appeal against the judgments of the Calcutta High Court in 2013 and 2019.
While the ASG raised certain technical points to resist the claim of the family of the BCCL worker, Justice Chandrachud was emphatic that this was a case that demonstrated “extremely unfortunate events”.
“Look at the family here. The man was abducted in 1999 and nobody has seen him ever since. You have a report of the Superintendent of Purulia to state that he was killed. What more do you want? We think you should not oppose this,” the judge told Banaerjee.
Banerjee sought to point out that there is no declaration by a civil court that the worker, Gopal Paswan, is to be presumed as dead. He also contended that Paswan’s wife should have gone to the Jharkhand High Court and not Calcutta High Court since BCCL had its office in the former state.
But the bench was categorical that when a family has been put to such extreme agony, raising such “hyper-technical” points was uncalled for.
“Here is a family that has been waiting for relief since 1999 but you want us to examine these hyper-technical points. This may not be fair. We feel sympathy for the family,” replied Justice Chandrachud.
The bench said that the BCCL must give compassionate appointment to either the wife or the major son of Paswan. “We see no reason to entertain the Special Leave Petition which is accordingly dismissed,” said the bench, directing the BCCL to comply with the order within a month.
It also decided to give compensation to Paswan’s family for its protracted suffering. “Since the family of the deceased has been made to run from pillar to post for twenty years after his death, we are of the view that an order for payment of costs to the respondent would be warranted,” held the bench
It said that the BCCL shall also pay costs quantified at Rs 2 lakhs to the widow of the deceased, and also sought for a report of compliance within a period of six weeks.
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