Freedom fighters' pension claims are judged on probabilities, not the standard of a criminal trial, Supreme Court holds

5 November 2026

The widow of Ramakant Tripathi has got back the freedom fighter's pension (Samman Nidhi) from the Supreme Court. Her husband was jailed for 25 days in the Maihar Praja Mandal Movement of 1945-46. Justices Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Alok Aradhe overturned a ruling of a Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which had found the claim, made after 25 years, barred by delay, laches and estoppel. It restored the Single Judge's order granting the pension from April 6, 1991 with 6% interest. The Court said Samman Nidhi is a mark of honour rooted in the Constitution, not a bounty or dole. Such claims are to be decided on probabilities rather than the standard of a criminal trial, and old claimants cannot be expected to produce records half a century old. Since the jail registers, police files and gazettes are in the State's hands, it is the State that must search them. The claim arose under the Madhya Pradesh Swatantrata Sangram Sainik Sammannidhi Rules, 1972.