COMPENSATE VICTIMS OF COW VIGILANTISM: SC

NEWDELHI: People killed by cow protection groups were entitled to compensation from the government, the Supreme Court said on Friday as it asked states to appoint district-level police officers to check violence by gau rakshaks.

NEW DELHI: Victims of crime, including people killed by cow protection groups, were entitled to financial compensation from the government, the Supreme Court said on Friday as it asked states to appoint district-level police officers to check violence by gau rakshaks.

The court also asked the chief secretaries of 22 states to file compliance reports in pursuance of its order on laying down a mechanism to sternly deal with self-styled cow vigilante groups. “The state is under obligation to frame a scheme and compensate those who are killed in violence,” said a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra in reponse to advocate Indira Jaising’s plea for a judicial order for paying compensation to the family of 15-year-old Junaid who was killed in a train near Delhi on June 23.

Jaising pleaded in court on behalf of Tushar Gandhi, the great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, who is among several petitioners who have moved the top court seeking action against the vigilante groups, accused of attacking and killing several people across the country on suspicion of smuggling cattle and eating beef.

Jaising said the central government be directed to frame a national policy on preventing incidents of cow vigilantism.

She also said there were several judgments which make mandatory the award of compensation to the victims of such crimes, but unfortunately, the money was not being paid.