Latest news with #Sukhwinder
Indian Express
26-05-2025
- Indian Express
‘Housewife puts heart, soul, sweat for family': MACT recognises homemaker's contribution, awards `20L in compensation ruling
Observing that a housewife puts her 'heart, soul and sweat to serve her family… 24 hours a day and seven days a week', the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal (MACT) of Chandigarh has has awarded Rs 20.06 lakh to a deceased woman's family. The tribunal, presided by Dr Harpreet Kaur, was hearing a plea filed by Gurbachan Singh (husband of the deceased), two minor children, and Harbans Kaur and Baljit Singh (parents of the deceased). The plea sought compensation of Rs 35 lakh, on account of death of Sukhwinder Kaur, 32, in a motor vehicular accident. According to the plea, on March 28, 2019, Sukhwinder, along with her husband, was going on foot to village Bahadurgarh after paying obeisance in Sheetla Meta temple situated at Sundra village. At about 7 pm, when they reached the area of Nimbua village, Sushil Kumar, who was riding a motorcycle, came from behind at a high speed and hit Sukhwinder, the plea said. As a result, she fell down on the road and suffered multiple injuries including head injury, due to which she died. According to the complainant, Sukhwinder was a housewife, and the petitioners are entitled to receive the compensation of Rs 35 lakh on account of 'love, care, affection and multifarious services' given by the deceased woman to the claimants. The driver of the motorcycle, Sushil Kumar, failed to appear before court, despite being issued notice, therefore was proceeded against ex parte in 2021. Upon notice, the insurance company — United India Insurance Company Limited appeared — through its counsel filed a written statement, in which it raised preliminary objections regarding maintainability, and while denying all the material averments having bearing on the amount of compensation, prayed for the dismissal of the claim petition. The tribunal, in view of the recitals of the FIR, the postmortem report, and testimony of Gurbachan Singh (an eye witness to the accident), said that it 'stands amply established that the accident had taken place, due to rash and negligent driving of offending vehicle which was being driven by Kumar, and the same resulted into death of Sukhwinder'. On the income of the deceased, the tribunal noted that it is claimed by the claimant that at the time of her death, the victim woman was a housewife and rendering multifarious services including household services to the claimants. 'No doubt, all these services can be performed by a maid servant. However, it would not be fair to equate the services of a wife with that of a maid as the former puts her heart, soul and sweat to serve her family and that too 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Therefore, the claimants are entitled to adequate compensation in lieu of the loss of gratuitous services rendered by the deceased,' the tribunal held. It also cited a matter decided by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2014, in which the court had fixed the notional income of the deceased housewife as Rs 9,000 per month, while observing that housewife is something more than a 'mere skilled worker and it would be unreasonable to underestimate the contribution of her as housewife'. Keeping the notional annual income of the deceased as Rs 9,000 and further adding other expenses, the tribunal ordered the insurance company to pay Rs 20.06 lakh to the claimants of the deceased. However, it clarified that though the insurance company has a right to recover the claim amount from the owner-insured and the driver of the motorcycle (Raj Kumar and Sushil Kumar).
The Hindu
16-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
When home is near the border
The drive down the double-lane Damar road from Punjab's Ferozepur city to Khai Pheme Ki village takes 15 minutes. Flanking the road are freshly harvested fields and trucks loaded with grain-filled sacks. Farm houses appear intermittently. On the face of it, the regular cycle of sowing and reaping continues in this village in Ferozepur district, in the State that feeds the Food Corporation of India with the largest share of wheat. Khai Pheme Ki village sits less than 15 kilometres away from India's border with Pakistan. On a scorching day in May, hundreds have gathered outside one of the homes here, to pay homage to 50-year-old Sukhwinder Kaur, who died on May 13. Days earlier, she had sustained severe burn injuries from a strike by Pakistan, when she was serving her family dinner. Her husband, Lakhwinder Singh, 57; and son Jaswant Singh, 25, too suffered serious burns in the incident, and are being treated in hospital. The attack took place during the military confrontation over four days between India and Pakistan, following India's precision strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on the night of May 6-7. Tensions between the two countries escalated after 26 civilians were killed in a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22. The Resistance Front, an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a terror group with its headquarters in Muridke in Pakistan, initially claimed responsibility for the attack. As a response to India's initial strikes, Pakistan targeted civilian areas and military installations in India's border regions of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Gujarat. Sukhwinder's death has opened the wounds of the people who live in villages which share a border with Pakistan, where life becomes unpredictable every time there is tension between the two countries. In Pojoke Uttar village, approximately 3 km from the border, when tensions escalated, people began sleeping in fields. With blackouts, and drones hovering in the skies, family members took turns to guard their homes and villages. They switched off the lights before darkness descended fully, understanding what could happen if they did not. In Habibwala village, barely 2 km from the border, younger men dug bunkers, and women sent children to the homes of their maternal grandparents if they lived away from the border. Malla Singh, a village panchayat member, says about 30 big and small bunkers were made in 10 days. Scars and strains The authorities took away the remains of the object that fell inside Sukhwinder's compound, but her car whose bonnet was blown up in the fire is still parked here, charred from the impact on May 9 night. Just a few metres away from the car are three cattle inside a shed. Two have suffered burns and their skins are peeling off. The electric wires passing through the roof of the house are hanging low, half melted; there are blood stains in both rooms and on the veranda. Neighbours rushed the family of three to the hospital. Sukhwinder was shifted to a bigger facility in Ludhiana, and died four days later. When her body was brought home, the neighbours put together money for tents to be set up on the roadside, so that the villagers could pay their respects without having to stand in the scorching heat. When Jaswant heard that his mother had died, he insisted on leaving the hospital for a day, despite burns and splinter injuries. 'We had just sat down for dinner when something hit our car and there was a blast. Everything went up in flames. Before we could gather our senses, our bodies were burnt,' he says, with a deep sense of loss. His older brother had died in an accident a few years ago. As he waits for his mother's body, he turns to his relatives and friends, asking every few minutes when the ambulance will arrive from Ludhiana. Then he asks about his father, who too sustained 70% burns. When Sukhwinder's body is brought home, Jaswant, who is unable to walk because of the injuries, drags himself from the cot with the help of four people and places his hands on his mother's forehead. The calm of the village is broken with the wails of the women. The men decide something must be done before the body is cremated. Those who are in mourning start raising slogans demanding ₹1 crore compensation, a government job for one member of the family, and the status of 'martyr' for Sukhwinder. Hours after negotiating with government officials and the police, the family cremates the body. Later, the Punjab government offers a ₹10 lakh compensation. The bridge to history In Hussainiwala, a little over 10 km from Ferozepur city, a cluster of villages border Pakistan. Here, many have vacated their homes and gone to live with relatives in places less dangerous. The National Martyrs Memorial, built in memory of freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar, and Shivaram Rajguru, is in Hussainiwala. Before the tensions, a daily changing of the guard took place, where both sides ceremonially lowered the flags in the evening. 'It was important for us to leave, not because we are afraid of drones or shelling, but because if we hadn't left, we might have ended up stuck had matters escalated,' says Gomma Singh, a member of the farmers' union in Gatti Rajjo Ki village in the area. He remembers stories of the 1971 war between the two countries, when Hussainiwala had become a location of conflict between Indian and Pakistani troops. The bridge to Hussainiwala, which was destroyed in that conflict and rebuilt later, is now heavily guarded by Indian troops, and only locals are allowed to pass through. It is covered with a shed. Gomma says some people have started returning home after the understanding to 'stop all firing and military action on land, in the air, and sea' came into effect on May 10, but many are still waiting. He demands that the government 'give all of us homes in cities' as living on the border 'keeps us in uncertainty'. Life disrupted Life in towns and cities in Punjab has also been affected, though cities such as Chandigarh are over 200 km from the border with Pakistan. With extra precautions ordered by the district administration, the people in Ferozepur were forced to cut short family functions and shut businesses after dusk. Rajeev Monga, whose niece got engaged on May 10, had to downscale celebrations. Simran Singh, whose son was preparing for the engineering entrance exam, was unable to reach Bengaluru on the day of the test, as the nearest airport in Amritsar was shut. The family could not get a train ticket in time. Travel agencies and hoteliers are seeing cancellations during the usually hectic school summer vacation. 'War is not good for anyone. Look at the Russia-Ukraine war. Who had thought that it would last for over three years? We shouldn't pray for war; no one knows whether it will end in five days or in five years,' says Nishant Singh, who runs a hotel and restaurant near Bhagat Singh colony in Ferozepur city. In Punjab's Bhatinda, a Haryana labourer was killed and nine others sustained injuries after an unidentified aircraft crashed and went up in flames during the wee hours of May 7. Children and seniors affected The India-Pakistan border is marked with a barbed wire and on normal days, the Zero Line is guarded by the Border Security Force (BSF). The Army takes over the guard in war-like situations. While guarding the Zero Line, a BSF troop had shot dead a Pakistani intruder close to the Lakha Singh Wala BSF post in Mamdot block of Ferozepur on May 8. It is also from Ferozepur that a BSF constable, Purnam Kumar Shaw, had inadvertently crossed into Pakistani territory on April 23. He was repatriated on May 15. 'My grandchild panicked when a blackout was announced on day one and the intruder was shot at,' says Bariam Singh, 65, from Basti Ram Lal village, smiling at his 16-year-old grandchild. He feels that earlier, wars were fought between men in uniforms; now, they are between machines, drones, and missiles. Lt. Gen. Deepender Singh Hooda, who retired as the Northern Army Commander, agrees with Bariam on the way warfare has changed. He says, 'Punjab is a key strategic location for both India and Pakistan. After Jammu, this State has a lot of civilians living in border villages. Our neighbouring country has a tendency of attacking civilians to put pressure on the government. This is why Punjab remains one of the worst-affected areas on the border, during wars.' In Kashmir, 18 people died in the targeting of civilians by Pakistan, following Operation Sindoor. Fourteen of them were from Poonch and two were children. Officials say four districts in Jammu and Kashmir — Poonch, Kupwara, Rajouri, and Baramulla — witnessed heavy losses. Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, the Director General of Military Operations, has confirmed that the armed forces lost five personnel. At the Zero Line, retired Army Hawaldar Surjeet Singh has agricultural land that he rushed to harvest when he sensed trouble. Surjeet says people living in border villages get the least facilities, but live under the highest threat. 'With the border so close, we always face the threat of firing. But there is no hospital nearby that is capable of treating grievous wounds. We have to go to cities, 40-50 km away,' he says. Darbara Singh from Basti Ram Lal has just finished feeding his cattle when his wife hands him the phone. His elder son, who is in the Indian Army and is posted in Jammu and Kashmir, has called after three days. 'My son says we can sleep peacefully as the Army is awake, guarding the nation,' Darbara says.
Time of India
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Ferozepur woman succumbs to burn injuries in drone attack, 1st casualty in Punjab
Bathinda: A 50-year-old woman who sustained critical injuries in a drone-related explosion in Punjab's Ferozepur succumbed to her wounds on Tuesday morning — the first civilian death outside Jammu and Kashmir linked to recent hostilities between India and Pakistan. Sukhwinder Kaur , along with her husband Lakhwinder Singh and son Monu, was injured on May 9 when debris from a Pakistani drone — intercepted and destroyed by India's air defence — crashed on to a house in Khai Pheme Ke village in Ferozepur district, igniting a fire that engulfed a parked car and the the time of the attack, Lakhwinder was trying to sleep while Sukhwinder was working in the kitchen. Even as a blackout was enforced, lights were on at the home of Lakhwinder. A number of video clips went viral after the incident wherein Lakhwinder Singh could be seen with burn injuries on his three were taken to a private hospital in critical condition. The couple was referred to DMC Hospital in Ludhiana, where Sukhwinder breathed her last on Tuesday SSP Bhupinder Singh Sidhu told TOI that Sukhwinder succumbed to her injuries at a hospital in Govind Ram from Haryana's Charkhi Dadri died after an aircraft crashed at Aklian Kalan village in Bathinda on May 7, but the reasons behind the crash have not come to the announces Rs 10L for kinExpressing solidarity with family of Sukhwinder Kaur, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday announced a financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh for the family of the deceased. In a statement issued here, the CM said that out of these Rs 10 lakh, Rs 5 lakh will be given from Chief Minister's Relief Fund, whereas Rs 5 lakh will be given by Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora. Sharing condolences with the members of the bereaved family, Mann prayed to the Almighty to give enormous strength to them to bear this huge and irreparable 121138404 413 |
Hindustan Times
13-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
Pakistan drone attack victim from Punjab's Ferozepur succumbs to injuries
Sukhwinder Kaur, 50, one of the three members of a family injured in a Pakistani drone strike at Khai Pheme Ki village in Punjab's border district of Ferozepur on May 9, succumbed to her injuries at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) in Ludhiana on Monday night. Sukhwinder is the first civilian casualty of the recent cross-border drone strikes carried out by Pakistan in Punjab. With this, the toll in the Pakistani shelling and drone attacks on Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab following Operation Sindoor targeting terror camps on May 7 has touched 26. Ferozepur deputy commissioner Deepshikha Sharma said Sukhwinder had suffered 100% burns after debris from a Pakistani drone, intercepted by India's air defence system, fell on their car sparking a fire that injured the family of three. The condition of Sukhwinder's husband, Lakhwinder Singh, 55, who suffered 70% burns, remains critical at DMCH. Their son, Jaswant Singh, 24, who was injured in the legs from the debris, is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Ferozepur and is on the road to recovery. The attack, which occurred around 9pm on May 9 in the border village 12km from Ferozepur, is the first in which civilians sustained injuries in Punjab. I t was part of a broader series of drone incursions from Pakistan that targeted 26 locations across northern India, including multiple attempts thwarted in Ferozepur and Fazilka districts. Security agencies are probing the incident, with senior officials confirming that most drones were neutralised before causing damage. Sukhwinder's body will be brought to her native village for the last rites later on Tuesday.
The Print
11-05-2025
- Health
- The Print
How drone blast turned dinner time into horror for one Ferozepur family day before India-Pak ceasefire
Lying helpless in the surgical ICU of Anil Baghi Hospital in Punjab's Ferozepur district, their son, Jaswant Singh alias Monu, strained to catch a glimpse of his parents through the glass corners of the door as they were shifted to a specialised burn unit in Ludhiana. He could barely move due to the splinter injury he had sustained. Ferozepur: Sukhwinder Kaur's face was grotesquely swollen, her skin scorched from head to toe. She was almost unrecognisable. Her husband, Lakhwinder Singh, lay wrapped in bandages, his lips painfully puffed, his eyes swollen shut. Their relatives wailed around them—some chanting prayers, hoping they would survive. What started as an ordinary dinner for the family of three in Khai Feme Ke village turned catastrophic. Around 8 pm Friday, Lakhwinder, 55, his wife Sukhwinder, 50, and 27-year-old Jaswant sat for an early dinner owing to a district-wide blackout. They had just taken their first bites when an explosive landed on their car and exploded—possibly remnants of a drone, according to police officials. The impact struck their car, parked under a shed housing their cattle, and then a cylinder near where they cook. This was barely 5-10 metres from where they sat. The blast tore through the area where the family sat, engulfing them in fire. 'We had just sat down to have our roti. Something heavy fell on the car and exploded. My mother was the nearest, then my father. I was on the other side. Suddenly everything turned black. My mother couldn't move at all,' Jaswant, a farmer, told ThePrint. Doctors at Anil Baghi Hospital told ThePrint that Sukhwinder had suffered 100 percent burns, while Lakhwinder sustained 72 percent burn injuries. The attack occurred amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan. Following India's Operation Sindoor in response to the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistan had made several attempts to target civilian areas and military installations across the western and northern sectors of India, including Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Gujarat. An agreement was reached between India and Pakistan late Saturday evening to pause all hostilities. However, despite the announcement, Ferozepur experienced another blackout overnight. Several sensitive areas across Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir saw continued shelling and firing even after the ceasefire annoucement—making the Friday night blast in Khai Feme Ke one of the final civilian casualties before the truce. India had, on 6 May, launched Operation Sindoor, neutralising nine terror camps belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Since then, Pakistan had been launching drones, many of which were intercepted by Indian air defence systems. Ferozepur, a border district, had been placed on high alert. Khai Feme Ke, being even closer to the border, was especially vulnerable. The area had seen multiple blackouts in recent days, including on the night of the strike. Also Read: US takes credit for 'ceasefire', India says it worked it out 'directly' with Pakistan Charred car, grunting cattle, shattered kin As Lakhwinder and Sukhwinder were taken to Ludhiana, family members wept. Lakhwinder's maternal aunt, 75-year-old Vidya Kaur, couldn't fathom why something of this magnitude had happened to them. 'I came rushing from Moga as soon as I heard. I can't comprehend how and why this happened,' she said. Standing beside her, Gardev Kaur, 45, Jaswant's sister-in-law, cried out, 'What have we done? We didn't want this war to happen. Pakistan is a rogue nation. They are hurting innocents. First Pahalgam, and now here in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.' Back in the village, locals debated why the drone targeted this family. Some speculated whether a light had been left on. Others wondered if it was the car's headlight. Jaswant insisted the lights were off. The family had been eating in an open space with no roof, a spot they also used for cooking. 'Car headlights were off. It was just parked there,' he said. Senior police officials confirmed that while the car's lights were off, it was possible that another source of light—perhaps a candle—had drawn the explosive device to the location. Meanwhile, Ferozepur continued to reel under fear and grief. Even without official orders, residents shut shops and hotels, choosing to remain indoors. 'My sister-in-law and brother are both so critical. Only God can save them now,' said Malkar Singh, Lakhwinder's brother, wiping away tears. 'The family has been destroyed. How will anyone come back from this?' At the Singh home, media personnel, police officers, and villagers crowded around. Although security forces had cleared the debris, the burnt frame of the car and scorched ground bore grim testimony to the night's horror. Two buffaloes, who also sustained burn injuries in the blast, grunted in pain throughout the day. Some local residents applied medicine to their wounds. 'Loosen their noose. Give them water,' Malkar shouted, trying to calm the injured animals. (Edited by Radifah Kabir) Also Read: India-Pakistan ceasefire: Fragile calm follows drone sightings, explosions in J&K, Punjab and Gujarat
