Bhagalpur riot victims get justice
Twenty years after one of the worst communal riots took place in Bhagalpur in which around 1,000 persons lost their lives, the Centre has eventually decided to compensate the victims at par with the victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
The government has released Rs 29.81 crore as compensation for them. “We have received the fund allotment letter from the Centre and this has been communicated to the Bhagalpur district administration which will now hand over the compensation amount to family members of the 844 people killed in the riots,” said Bihar Home Commissioner Afzal Amanullah.
The state government had initially identified 861 families to be compensated but the Centre cleared the names of 844 victims.
As per the Centre’s largesse, each of the victims will now get Rs 3.5 lakh, akin to the anti-Sikh riot victims.
The riot was one of the worst communal conflagrations witnessed in 1989, where nearly 1,000 people, mostly belonging to the minority community, were killed.
The Congress, which was in power then, was ousted from the office next year. And after that, it could never stage a comeback in Bihar in the next two decades.
Even 15 years of uninterrupted Lalu-Rabri regime could not compensate the victims’ cry for justice.
It was eventually left to Nitish Kumar to assuage the ruffled feathers of those denied justice. The Bihar government announced to give a life-long pension of Rs 2,500 per month to the widow of those killed, besides re-opening the cases in which some of the accused were let off.
Consequences
As a consequence, one of the accused, who was awarded by Lalu for promoting communal amity and peace, was subsequently convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court.
Later, the Nitish Kumar government made a fervent plea to the Central government to compensate the victims at par with Delhi riot victims. Twenty years after the mayhem, the Centre has undone the injustice.
