Govt tweaks rule to give army widows more freedom to remarry

A government provision stated that a widow would continue to receive the allowance until her remarriage or death, but she will be entitled to the money if she remarried her husband’s brother.

A soldier’s widow will be eligible to draw monetary allowance for her husband’s gallantry even if she remarries someone other than her brother-in-law.

Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat pays homage to soldiers killed in a militant ambush on Jammu-Srinagar national highway, in New Delhi in April 2017. (PTI File Photo)

The defence ministry on Tuesday announced that it has done away with a rule that mandated that an army widow would continue to get the monetary allowance only if she remarried the late soldier’s brother.

In a statement, the ministry said it had received representations from several quarters to remove the condition for continuation of the monetary allowance.

The archaic provision limited a widow’s option to make a fresh start in life.

The provision stated that a widow will continue to receive the allowance until her remarriage or death, but she would be entitled to the money if she remarried her husband’s brother.

It “has now been decided to remove the condition of the widow’s remarriage ... vide MoD letter dated November 16, 2017,” the ministry statement said.