New Delhi, Jan 24 (Inditop.com) The Delhi High Court refused to grant relief to the parents of Major Mohit Sharma — posthumously selected for the Ashok Chakra award this year — to attend the award-presentation ceremony. The court said the government had done its bit to send an invitation.
Parents of Major Mohit Sharma, who was killed while fighting militants in Kashmir last year, pleaded before the court that they have not got the official invitation for attending the ceremony. It is their daughter-in-law Reshma who has got it.
Justice S. Muralidhar, in an order passed last week, said: “This court finds nothing unreasonable in the stand of the government. The government really cannot be expected to concern itself with any dispute that the petitioners may have with Reshma, who is the next of kin and to whom the invitation has been sent. This court is in the circumstances unable to grant any relief to the petitioners.”
During the argument, the central government submitted that the invitation was sent to Major Reshma Sharma, the wife of late Major Sharma, as next-of-kin.
It was further informed that for attending the ceremony, Reshma was entitled to bring two guests at government expenses and on the request of the awardees/recipients, two additional guests could also be allowed to witness the ceremony.
But the petitioners stated that they have certain disputes with Reshma and they did not expect that their daughter-in-law would ask them to witness the ceremony.
Sharma, a resident of Ghaziabad, was killed in a gun battle while fighting militants during an anti-terrorist operation with three other soldiers in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir in March last year.
