SNE NETWORK.CHANDIGARH.
The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Ladakh (then Jammu and Kashmir) and near the Line of Control (LOC). In this war, India defeated the nefarious intentions of the neighboring country and won. Our brave soldiers displayed indomitable courage and drove the enemies out of their land.
Sepoy Harjinder Singh, who was seriously injured in a bomb blast during the Kargil War on June 8, 1999, is still struggling for justice. Harjinder Singh, a resident of Bahlolpur village of Machhiwara in Ludhiana district of Punjab, was declared medically unfit in 2003 and retired from the army. Since then, he has been fighting a legal battle in the Supreme Court against the Central Government and the Ministry of Defense for his rights and benefits. Harjinder Singh says that I am a soldier and will fight for my rights and will not give up.
Sepoy Harjinder Singh said that on June 8, 1999, five vertebrae of his spine were broken in a Pakistani bomb attack in Mala sector. He suffered serious injuries in his legs, hands and other parts of the body. In 2003, he was declared unfit on medical grounds and retired from the army.
After this, Harjinder Singh filed a case against the army officials in the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT). Harjinder Singh said that he was retired without giving him the benefit of the casualty he suffered in the Kargil war. Only pension was imposed. Both the judicial bench of the AFT and the Punjab-Haryana High Court ordered the Defense Ministry to give him all the benefits. However, the central government and the army filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against these orders on March 12, 2015.
Argued in the apex court that the soldier’s party to order details for casualty benefit did not reach them, due to which the benefit cannot be given. The soldier’s lawyer argued that the soldier was badly injured during the Kargil war and was under treatment in the hospital for several days. It was the responsibility of the concerned officers to send all his medical information to the headquarters. Now the next hearing of this case is to be held on May 15.
After getting injured in Kargil, soldier Harjinder has now also taken up social service. Since his retirement, he has saved the lives of 10 people so far. On February 10, 2025, at around 11 pm, a Scorpio car fell into the Sirhind Canal. Without caring for his life, he along with his sons saved the lives of five people trapped in the car submerged in water. On August 25, 2007, 22-year-old girl Parminder Kaur, a resident of Nawanshahr, jumped into the same canal, whom he pulled out by jumping into the canal. Similarly, the lives of two young men injured in road accidents in the dark of night were saved by taking them to the hospital.