New Delhi, Sept. 26 -- Exercising its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court has ordered the reinstatement of a former Short Service Commissioned woman officer of the Indian Air Force who had left service in 2013 and later became a war widow after the death of her husband in a MiG-21 fighter jet crash in 2021.

A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant allowed the appeal filed by former IAF officer Squadron Leader Priyanka Saxena against orders of the Armed Forces Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi, in 2024 and directed that the Government of India case be treated as a single case without creating any precedent, as it was "very peculiar".

Article 142 of the Constitution grants the Suprem...