Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
SC asks Maha govt to compensate riot victims of 1992-’93
NEW DELHI: Thirty years after the 1992 Mumbai riots that left 900 people dead and more than 2000 injured, the Supreme Court has issued a slew of directives on paying compensation to the victims, tracing the absconding accused, and reviving dormant cases pertaining to the riots.
Maharashtra government has also been asked to constitute a special cell to trace the absconding accused in 97of the 253 rioting cases registered. The SC further instructed Maharashtra government to provide details of the 97 dormant cases to the registrar general of the Bombay High Court within one month.
Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and AS Oka underscored that a constitutional court cannot shut its eyes towards the plight of the victims just because the petition remained pending in the top court for 21 years.
The bench also held that an atmosphere of communal tension violates an individual’s constitutional right to life: “Article 21 of the Constitution of India confers a right on every citizen to live with human dignity. Article 21 encompasses into itself the right to live a meaningful and dignified life...If the citizens are forced to live in an atmosphere of communal tension, it affects their right to life guaranteed by Article 21...We cannot allow the victims to suffer only because there was a delay in the disposal of this writ petition.”
The court added: “It cannot be disputed that certain groups were responsible for the largescale violence in December 1992 and January 1993. There was a failure on the part of the state government to maintain law and order and to protect the rights of the people guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.” The widescale rioting in Bombay followed the demolition of the Babri masjid on December 6th. The state was then led by Congress chief minister Sudhakaraao Naik.
Friday’s SC order came on the petition filed by Shakeel Ahmed in 2001, demanding the implementation of recommendations