Dainik Nation News Portal
The Supreme Court rejects the Union government’s review petition against a verdict. In which apex court ordered to Army and Air Force to jointly pay over ₹1.5 crore to a former air force corporal, who contracted HIV from a blood transfusion at a military hospital in 2002.
The government had contested the court’s decision from September 26 last year, which found the Army and Air Force responsible for medical negligence for failing to maintain the highest safety standards for military personnel. The retired corporal, discharged in 2016, was also granted benefits including free medical care and disability pension.
Justices Dipankar Datta and PB Varale stated in an order on April 3, “the judgment and order under review does not suffer from any error, much less apparent error, warranting its reconsideration.” The court also denied the government’s request for an open court hearing of the review petition.
The airman, whose identity remains protected by the court, filed a contempt petition after six months passed without receiving the ordered compensation. Last month, the court directed the government to promptly release his disability pension, ₹25,000 allowance for monthly hospital visits, and an additional ₹18 lakh for a caretaker, within a week.
The airman enlisted in the Air Force in 1996 and received the tainted blood transfusion in July 2002 during Operation Parakram, a military standoff with Pakistan. He was not diagnosed with HIV until May 2014 at a naval hospital in Mumbai, after a military hospital failed to detect it earlier that year.
In the initial September judgment, Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Dipankar Datta held the Army and Air Force “vicariously liable” for medical negligence, awarding the HIV-positive soldier ₹1.5 crore in compensation. The Air Force was permitted to seek reimbursement of up to half the amount from the Army (which was responsible for the field hospital where the transfusion occurred).
Justice Bhat stated, “No amount of compensation can undo the harm caused by such behaviour which has shaken the foundation of the appellant’s dignity, robbed him of honour, and rendered him not only desperate, but cynical.”
“Individuals enlist in the armed forces with significant enthusiasm and a sense of patriotic duty… to risk their lives and be prepared for the ultimate sacrifice. A corresponding duty is placed on all state functionaries, including those in the armed forces, to ensure the highest standard of safety, encompassing physical and mental well-being,” the ruling added.
Due to his condition, the airman’s wife left him, and after his discharge, he filed a complaint with the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission seeking ₹95 crore from the Air Force for negligence. The commission dismissed his petition in August 2021, leading to his appeal.
During recent contempt proceedings, amicus curiae Vanshaja Shukla cautioned that the petitioner’s CD4 count, indicating immune system health, had dropped to a concerning level of 256. “His CD4 level has fallen to 256. If it goes below 200, he will become an AIDS patient,” Shukla emphasized, highlighting that the Centre’s delay in paying him the compensation would adversely affect his health and well-being.
The court instructed the government to deposit the remaining compensation with its registry within two weeks and stated it would review compliance on July 16.
