Row over food: HC allows wife of BSF jawan to meet him

New Delhi: The Delhi High court Friday asked the Centre to allow the wife of the BSF jawan, who went public through the social media alleging poor quality food being served to soldiers, to meet and stay with him for two days at the base where he is posted at present.

The direction by a division bench of Justices G S Sistani and Vinod Goel came after Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain informed the court that BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav is not under any illegal confinement and he has been shifted to another battalion, 88th Bn HQRS at Kalibari, Samba in Jammu.

Taking note of the submission, the bench said if the wife has an apprehension that her husband is under threat, she and their son be allowed to meet the soldier.

It also said, "We should not get into logistics of any kind, the wife must be allowed to meet him and let us burst the bubble."

The bench further directed the ASG, who was representing the Centre and BSF, to make all possible arrangements for the wife to meet her husband and there should be no difficulties while she visits the place.

The court's direction came after the jawan's wife Sharmila Devi moved the court by way of a habeas corpus plea, alleging that her husband is untraceable and the family has been unable to contact him for the last few days.

Advocate Manish Tewari, appearing for the woman, said that since February 7, the wife was not able to speak to her husband and even the BSF chief did not reply to the representation sent by the family in this regard.

They were not even informed about the disciplinary action being taken against Yadav for his alleged video, which went viral on the social media.

Yadav had on January 9 posted a video on Facebook which showed a meal box comprising a watery soup-like dal, which he said had only turmeric and salt and a burnt chapatti.