The Bombay Excessive Courtroom on Tuesday (December 16, 2025) issued a discover to the Union Ministry of Defence on a petition filed by the mom of Agniveer Murali Naik, who was killed in cross-border shelling in Jammu & Kashmir throughout Operation Sindoor, difficult the denial of full dying advantages granted to households of normal troopers.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Ashwin D. Bhobe directed the Centre to file its response by January 15, 2026, and posted the matter for listening to on the identical date. Advocate Prakash Ambedkar, together with advocates Hitendra Gandhi and Sandesh Extra, appeared for the petitioner.
The plea, filed by Naik’s mom Jyothibai Shriram Naik, contends that the Centre’s Agnipath scheme creates an “arbitrary and unreasonable” distinction between Agniveers and common troopers, leading to “discriminatory” denial of long-term welfare advantages to households of those that die in service. It argues that Agniveers carry out the identical duties and face an identical dangers as common troopers however are excluded from post-service pension and institutional recognition.
Naik, recruited below the Agnipath scheme in June 2023, was killed on Could 9, 2025, in Poonch when the Pakistan Military launched heavy artillery and mortar assaults throughout Operation Sindoor, a retaliatory army motion following the Pahalgam terror strike in April that claimed 26 lives, principally vacationers.
Based on the petition, households of martyred Agniveers obtain an ex-gratia quantity of round ₹1 crore however are denied common household pension and different advantages obtainable to kin of normal troopers. The petitioner has sought instructions to grant equal posthumous advantages, together with pensions and welfare measures, to households of Agniveers who die within the line of responsibility.
The plea clarifies that it doesn’t problem the validity of the Agnipath scheme in its entirety however asserts that the classification violates basic rights below the Structure. “The scheme created an arbitrary and unreasonable classification between Agniveers and regular soldiers without any intelligible differentia,” it acknowledged.
“My son wore the same uniform, took the same oath, and faced the same dangers as any regular soldier. Yet, because of the terms of the Agnipath scheme, his supreme sacrifice is not recognised with the dignity, honor, and security that the family of a martyred soldier is supposed to receive,” Ms. Naik acknowledged in her plea.
Launched in 2022, the Agnipath scheme supplies short-term induction of personnel within the Military, Navy and Air Drive, recruiting candidates aged 17.5 to 21 years for 4 years, with 25% retained for an further 15 years.
Revealed – December 17, 2025 05:31 am IST
