Insurance, PF, assets disbursed as divided by officer in will, pension goes to wife, say officials

Army clarifies benefits distribution between late officer's wife and parents, amid controversy over financial assistance criteria.

Amid allegations made by the parents of late Captain Anshuman Singh against their daughter-in-law Smriti Singh, Army sources clarified that the Army Group Insurance Fund (AGIF) of ₹1 crore was split between his wife and parents while the pension goes directly to the spouse. In addition, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had announced ₹50 lakh in aid, of which ₹35 lakh went to his wife and ₹15 lakh to his parents.

The officer’s wife is receiving certain benefits as she was nominated in the will, sources said, also noting that Captain Singh’s father is a retired Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in the Army and is a pensioner himself and also avails of other benefits as an ex-servicemen. As per policy, once an officer is married, his wife is the nominee for pension, an Army source explained.

Captain Anshuman Singh was commissioned into the Army Medical Corps in March 2020. He joined 26 Punjab Regiment as medical officer for the Chandan Complex on Siachen glacier. On July 19, 2023, Chandan dropping zone witnessed a major fire incident and the officer rescued four to five individuals from the adjacent Fibre Glass Hut and later rushed to the medical investigation room that was engulfed in fire to retrieve the medical aid box, when he lost his life. For his gallant act, he was posthumously conferred the Kirti Chakra, the country’s second-highest peacetime gallantry award. This was presented by President Droupadi Murmu to his wife and mother Manju Singh at a defence investiture ceremony held in Rashtrapati Bhavan on July 5.

Captain Singh and Ms. Singh were married for only five months, though they were in a relationship for eight long years before that, Ms. Singh had recounted, teary eyed, in a video put out by the Defence Ministry at the time of the investiture ceremony. Days after the award ceremony, his parents Ravi Pratap Singh and Ms. Manju Singh alleged that they did not even get to touch the Kirti Chakra and sought changes in the Indian Army’s Next of Kin (NoK) criteria for financial assistance. Ms. Singh has not made any comments on the allegations.

Several serving officers expressed shock at the turn of events and the strong language used against Ms. Singh on social media. “Nomination is absolutely the officer’s choice. The spouse has no role in it. She is entitled as a grieving wife,” a senior officer said on condition of anonymity. “Such issues do come up with the men, especially when there are dependent parents and so on. The issues are quite often resolved by the Unit but in this instance, it is particularly unfortunate as the Officer’s father is himself an ex-servicemen,” the officer added.

Explaining the process, officials said that an officer when commissioned into the Army executes a will nominating the NoK for insurance from the Army Group Insurance Fund (AGIF), Provident Fund, and any other movable or immovable properties that one has. While there can be multiple nominees for all these, there is no such option given for pension. As officers are mostly unmarried when commissioned, parents are nominated and after marriage, officers are asked to update it, when for AGIF, PF and other assets the percentage of division between the wife and parents can be defined. “The Army disburses funds and pension accordingly,” one official said. “If Anshuman’s wife is receiving the benefits, it’s because he designated her in his will. For instance, in the case of Captain Singh, the percentage of AGIF was 50% [between his wife and parents] and for PF it was 100% to his wife.”

In the case of pension, the NoK of a military personnel declared battle casualty gets liberalised pension, which is higher than the normal pension.