STATE GOVT NEVER STUCK TO ITS ASSESSMENT

In the last 35 years, successive Uttar Pradesh governments have flip-flopped over their own assessment about the loss to life and property in the state during the antiSikh riots of 1984 and ended up creating more confusion for victims seeking a closure.

Sample this: The UP government on September 5, 2017 gave out a figure of 251 Sikhs who were killed during the 1984 riots. A week later, on September 13, the government came up with new figure of 204 people killed.

The government’s figures show 253 people were injured in the riots. Their number came down to mere seven when compensation was paid. This has been the crux of the fight for justice, said Guru Singh Sabha president Kuldeep Singh, fighting for compensation and justice for riot victims in the state.

On the other hand, he said, the Justice Rang Nath Misra Commission report submitted to the government in February 1987 gave the figure of only 127 Sikh deaths. Justice Misra recorded 127 deaths during riots here in addition to some deaths noticed in trains. The persons killed in the trains were not in the jurisdiction of Kanpur city.

Even the compensation paid was Rs six crore as against Rs 18 crore, to families of the victims. The government had accepted 9,424 cases of property destruction, he said.

The Special Investigation Team, constituted out of fear of the supreme court, could not settle the long-standing issues related to the riots. The apex court had asked the government to provide actual status of the cases, the number of the killed and the exact property loss. But the state government could not supply the required information, said Singh.

On the other hand, the head of the Guru Singh Sabha Latouche Road claimed that had the status report demanded by the Supreme Court been submitted two years back, the Sikhs might have received justice.

The Special Investigation Team’s investigations would now help in getting justice for the victims’ families, he said.