Singeshwar Singh vs The Union of India and Others

Barin Ghosh, J.—Heard. The original register of convicted person was produced in Court. I have looked into the same. The register shows that the petitioner was admitted as a Class-A prisoner on 28th June, 1943. The register also shows that the crime as was established on conviction was attempt to escape from jail and accordingly, was sentenced by S.D.O., Bihar and in addition to that, the petitioner was convicted by the Magistrate, First Class for bad livelihood. However, there is no dispute that the petitioner despite having been convicted for attempting to escape from jail and for bad livelihood was considered as a Class-A prisoner which suggests in no uncertain terms that the petitioner was a freedom fighter. The register also shows that the petitioner was released on 7th August, 1945 and accordingly, the petitioner has complied with all the requisites for obtaining Swatantrata Sainik Samman Pension and as such all purported decisions taken by the State and the Union of India in refusing to grant freedom fighter pension to the petitioner are quashed with a direction upon the Union of India to forthwith grant pension to the petitioner if not already granted. In the event the Union of India requires any further clarification, it can have the same from the Government of Bihar and in such clarification, the Government of Bihar is directed to make it absolutely explicit that the petitioner was a freedom fighter and as such suffered imprisonment for the period mentioned above.

This disposes of the writ petition.