Hero's mom still fights for compensation

 With the martyr’s widow allegedly grabbing the full compensation amount of Rs 22.70 lakh, the impoverished 69-year-old mother of Sachidananda Mallick in Kandiahata area is having a tough time after the untimely demise of the family’s sole bread-earner.

Earlier, a lower court had ordered that the martyr’s mother is entitled to get one-third of the compensation from the war widow’s account.

Nivedita Mallick, the widow of the martyr, however, had challenged the lower court’s verdict in an appellate court. And since then, a conclusive ruling from the court is awaited.

Monetary help had poured in from various quarters for the family living in the river-locked hamlet in Rajkanika tehsil as the country celebrated the success of Operation Vijay in 1999.

Besides scores of organisations and individuals, including Sahara India, playback singer Anuradha Paudwal and cricketer Debasis Mohanty had generously contributed to the bereaved family.

The widow Nivedita was given a government job and family pension. However, she left her in-law’s house leaving the war hero’s parents to fight a legal battle staking claim over the monetary awards given to their son. The district ex-servicemen association then had tried to settle the dispute amicably, but failed.

Mallick was enrolled in the Army as a Sepoy in 12 Mahar Regiment in 1989. Later, he was promoted to Lance Naik and sacrificed his life in the Kargil battle on June 28, 1999.