Revoke plea against relief to 40 kept in jail after Operation Bluestar: SGPC to Centre

This move will further enhance the sense of alienation in the Sikh community. Union government needs to win hearts of the community by doing justice with it. GOBIND S LONGOWAL, SGPC chief

AMRITSAR :The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) asked the Union government on Saturday to revoke an appeal against compensation to 40 Sikh men, who were arrested from Golden Temple complex during Operation Bluestar in 1984 and kept in Jodhpur (Rajasthan) jail till 1989.

The Centre filed the appeal in the Punjab and Haryana high court a few days ago against the Amritsar court verdict, which came in April last year. In the verdict, the court had asked the state and central governments to give ₹ 4 lakh to each of the 40 men terming their detention illegal. The state government had agreed to give the compensation.

Taking a serious note of the Centre’s move, SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal said the ruling of the Amritsar court lessened the pain of the detainees, but the step taken by the Centre is not fair in any respect.

“This move will further enhance the sense of alienation in the Sikh community. In such a situation, the Union government needs to win hearts of the community by doing justice with it instead of going against relief to the Sikh victims,”said Longowal in a press statement issued here.