“In the summer of 1947, hundreds of thousands of civilians were massacred during the Partition of India… Thirty seven years later, India was witness to another enormous human tragedy… A majority of the perpetrators of these horrific mass crimes, enjoyed political patronage and escaped trial.” This is what Delhi High Court Judges S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel had to say about the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and some other cities in Northern India. Yet, it took India almost three and a half decades to provide justice to the anti-Sikh riot victims.
Till 2014, there wasn’t much development when it comes to delivering justice to anti-Sikh riot victims. However, in 2014, BJP promised justice for anti-Sikh riot victims. After the Modi government came to power, an SIT was constituted on February 12, 2015 following the recommendations by Home Ministry-appointed Justice (retd) GP Mathur committee, to carry out a probe into the 1984 riots.
In 2018, there were convictions and sentencing in some of the high-profile cases relating to the anti-Sikh riots. And now, the Modi government is continuing the same process by announcing a rehabilitation package for the 1984 riot victims.
On Thursday, Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi informed the Lok Sabha that the Government of India has introduced a rehabilitation package for the purpose of providing relief to the anti-Sikh riot victims.
Naqvi was responding to a set of questions asked by Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Santosh Pandey. The question read, “(a) whether there is any provision for pension or relief amount for Sikhs who are victim of 1984 riots; (b) if so, the details of pension or relief amount for which provision has been made; (c) whether the said amount is disbursed by the Union Government or the State Government and if so, the details along with the disbursement process thereof; (d) whether the victims are getting regular pension; (e) the total number of victims in Chhattisgarh along with the details thereof, district-wise; (f) the number of victims, out of above, who have not received pension and the time since when their pension is due along with the reasons therefor; and (g) the time by which pension amount is likely to be paid to the said victims?”
In his answer, Naqvi disclosed that the scheme for rehabilitation of the 1984 riot victims included ex-gratia payment of Rs 3.5 lakh for each case of death during the riots and Rs 1.25 lakh to redress cases of injuries.
The Minority Affairs Minister informed that in 2014, the Centre had introduced grant of enhanced reliefs of Rs. 5 lakhs per deceased. And now, a provision of Rs 4.5 crore has been made in the Union Budget 2021-22 for payment of enhanced compensation to the next of kin of the deceased in the 1984 riots.
The Minister further informed that Centre’s scheme also contains a provision for the state government to grant permission to widows and old aged parents of death victims at the rate of Rs 2,500 per month for whole life. Naqvi said, “For payment of enhanced ex-gratia amount, the States/UTs would disburse the money from their own funds and Ministry of Home Affairs would reimburse the amount to the concerned State/UT Government on receipt of utilization certificate.”
It has been 37 years since the anti-Sikh riots took place. 3,000 people were killed in the deadly riots and in many ways, the incident continues to shake the collective conscience of the society. Yet, the Centre finally seems to be addressing the issue properly by first delivering justice to the victims and now announcing a rehabilitation scheme for their benefit.
