The Bombay High Court on Tuesday (December 16, 2025) issued a notice to the Union Ministry of Defence on a petition filed by the mother of Agniveer Murali Naik, who was killed in cross-border shelling in Jammu & Kashmir during Operation Sindoor, challenging the denial of full death benefits granted to families of regular soldiers.
Mother of martyred Agniveer moves Bombay High Court for equal death benefits
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 hearing on the same date. Advocate Prakash Ambedkar, along with advocates Hitendra Gandhi and Sandesh More, appeared for the petitioner.
The plea, filed by Naik’s mother Jyothibai Shriram Naik, contends that the Centre’s Agnipath scheme creates an “arbitrary and unreasonable” distinction between Agniveers and regular soldiers, resulting in “discriminatory” denial of long-term welfare benefits to families of those who die in service. It argues that Agniveers perform the same duties and face identical risks as regular soldiers but are excluded from post-service pension and institutional recognition.
Naik, recruited under the Agnipath scheme in June 2023, was killed on May 9, 2025, in Poonch when the Pakistan Army launched heavy artillery and mortar attacks during Operation Sindoor, a retaliatory military action following the Pahalgam terror strike in April that claimed 26 lives, mostly tourists.
