Ex-officer, war widow Priyanka Saxena will be trained and reinstated as Squadron Leader: IAF chief

NEW DELHI: Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal A P Singh said on Saturday that the air force will follow the Supreme Court orders to reinstate ex-IAF officer and war widow, Priyanka Saxena.“The (Supreme) court judgement has come. We have to follow the orders. We have been told to give her training after doing her medical test. She will be trained, especially the soldier part of the training. In her branch also, she will be trained. Thereafter, she will be reinstated as a Squadron Leader on the court orders as 11th year of her service. She will be a short-service commissioned officer.”The SC recently directed the IAF to reinstate her by invoking its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution. Saxena was commissioned into the IAF in Dec 2003 and served for 10 years in the logistics branch before leaving service in Dec 2013 due to family commitments. She later married Wing Commander Harshit Sinha, a fighter pilot who tragically died in a MiG-21 Bison crash near Jaisalmer on Dec 24, 2021. Following her husband's death, she sought re-induction into the IAF under policies meant for war widows (Veer Naris), but faced legal hurdles and a 2024 adverse ruling from the Armed Forces Tribunal.However, the SC set aside the tribunal's order last month and noted that Saxena qualified on dual grounds —as a former experienced service officer and as a war widow— and ruled that her prior 10 years of experience meant she did not need to repeat full initial pre-commission training.On a query that some IAF officers were honey-trapped in the recent past, the IAF chief said, “There are some cases. Due process was followed in such cases. But as cases are sub judice, I won’t be able to comment on it. But yes, wherever I go, I sensitise my officers and them to stay away and not fall into this trap.”