Chandigarh, June 26: Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday said the entire cost of compensation to Jodhpur detainees, calculated at Rs 4.5 crore, would be borne by his government if the Centre failed to contribute its share.
With Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on an overseas tour, he reportedly conveyed his decision to Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba.
Expressing the hope that the Centre would be forthcoming with its 50 per cent share of the compensation awarded by an Amritsar court, he said if, for any reason, the Centre failed to pay its share, the state government would take over the entire liability and ensure that the detainees got justice.
“The Centre should immediately withdraw its appeal in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the compensation,” he demanded. Pointing out that the detainees had suffered for years for no fault of theirs, the Chief Minister called for a uniform policy to deal with all such cases.
At least 300 persons rounded up by the Army during Operation Bluestar were detained at the Jodhpur jail and later released in three batches between March 1989 and July 1991. Of them, 224 detainees appealed for compensation in the lower courts, alleging “wrongful detention and torture”, but failed to get relief.
Forty of them moved the District and Sessions Court, Amritsar, which in May last year awarded a compensation of Rs 4 lakh each with 6 per cent interest (from the date of filing of the appeal).
Capt Amarinder Singh had last week written to the Union Home Minister, pointing out that the Centre’s appeal against the compensation, which the court had said was to be jointly paid by the Centre and the state government, had evoked strong reaction from the Sikh community.
“It is further likely to lead to an avoidable sense of alienation and perceived injustice among the community,” the CM had warned.
Source Tribune India
