CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court has held that families of Indian soldiers who fought for the British Crown during the World War-2 cannot be given benefits meant for the kin of martyrs.

“The petitioners cannot claim any kind of benefit until and unless the state government has framed any policy in this regard and no direction can be issued as well,” the HC bench of justice RK Jain said while dismissing petitions of two SAS Nagar residents, Naseeb Kaur and her sister.

They had approached the court stating that soldiers who had laid down their lives in World War-1 have been compensated with allotment of land but the respondents are not responding to their representation. The state had admitted that 10 acres of land has been allotted to widows of the soldiers who died in 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars, but there is no record available in respect of the heirs of soldiers who died in WW-2.

The petitioners, daughters one Fateh Singh who died in WW–2, had prayed that a direction be issued to the respondents to allot land or grant cash for the their father’s “sacrifice”.

“There is a fallacy in the arguments of the petitioners that their father was a freedom fighter. He was a soldier, who fought for the British Crown in World War-2 and not for the Republic of India in the 1962, 1965 or 1971 wars,” the HC said.

The court refused to give any direction to the respondents for deciding the representation of the petitioners.