HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday directed the Central government to extend all possible help to Kanagala Sriramulu, a 37-year-old former commando of the National Security Guard who was crippled badly in the terror attack on Pathankot Air Force base in 2016.
The bench was dealing with a PIL case, taken up suo-motu based on a news item published in “The New Indian Express” on August 29 this year wherein it was reported that Sriramulu was unable to walk, talk freely or perform anything on his own after being injured in the attack. Sriramulu was an expert at defusing grenades with the bomb disposal unit of NSG.
Expressing concern at lack of required assistance to Sriramulu, the bench remarked that it was very unfortunate that nobody had come forward to help a man who had put his life at risk to protect the country from enemies.
On an earlier occasion, the bench took a serious view when it was informed that the issue of extending assistance to Sriramulu was still under examination. The bench pulled up both the Centre and Telangana government for their failure to extend necessary assistance to the NSG commando.
When the matter came up for hearing on Tuesday, assistant solicitor general K Lakshman, appearing for the Centre, submitted that a medical board was going to meet Sriramulu and assess his health condition. Based on the decision of the board, assistance would be extended to him, he said. Reacting to this submission, the bench said the Centre needed to extend all help irrespective of the decision of the medical board and asked to inform it about the steps taken.