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Make compensation for martyrs reasonable and uniform

Last Updated 22 November 2016, 17:43 IST
Of late there have been several controversies regarding compensation claims in case of deaths particularly in the case of martyrs.

In June this year, Head Constable Munuswamy of the Tamilnadu Police was stabbed to death after he chased and nabbed a chain snatcher near Hosur in Tamilnadu.

After an initial announcement of Rs 5 lakh as solatium to the wife of the deceased policeman, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha enhanced it manifold to Rs 1 crore. She is reported to have issued directions to the concerned officials to enhance the ex-gratia amount for all police personnel of the state police who die in the course of delivering their duties or suffer serious injuries while on duty.

Earlier in February this year, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a compensation of Rs 1 crore to the next of kin of Constable Narottam Prasad of the Central Reserve Police Force who was killed in a landmine blast in Gaya in February 2015. Earlier, he paid a similar amount to the family of a  Delhi Police Constable who died on duty.

On June 2, 2016 when Superintendent of Police, Mathura District, Mukul Dwivedi was lynched to death along with Inspector Santosh Yadav and the Station House Officer when they were carrying out a reconnaissance of the area encroached by the followers of a sect with large following, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister enhanced the compensation from the initial Rs 20 lakh to Rs 50 lakh to the families of the slain cops.

Following the attack on the Army camp in Uri on September 18, in which Havildar Ashok Kumar of Bhojpur district in Bihar was martyred, the Bihar government announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to his family.

Rejecting the compensation as disrespectful for soldiers who die for the country, the widow Sangeeta Devi in a subtle manner conveyed to the powers that be, that she expected a respectable compensation for the loss of her husband. To avoid further embarrassment to the government, Nitish Kumar, the chief minister, promptly enhanced the compensation to Rs 11 lakh. With that amount the matter stands settled.

In Kolkata, Bharatiya Janata Party workers organised a demonstration demanding Rs 15 lakh as compensation to the widows of the two jawans hailing from West Bengal – Biswajit Ghorai and Gangadhar Dolui – who too died in the Uri attack. This, after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a solatium of Rs 2 lakh each to the two widows.

In the Dadri lynching case of Mohammed Ikhlaq wherein 18 accused were incarcerated and one of them Ravin Sisodia, a taxi driver died in prison “due to multi-organ failure” on October 4, the villagers demanded a compensation of Rs 1 crore for his death.

Ikhlaq was beaten to death on rumours of cow slaughter and beef consumption by a mob in Bisara village in September last year. The villagers refused to cremate the body till the compensation was paid to the family of the deceased. Only after getting an assurance from the administration that the family would be paid a sum of Rs 25 lakh did the villagers relent and cremate the body on October 8. While Rs 10 lakh out of the Rs 25 lakh was to be paid by the Uttar Pradesh government, Rs 10 lakh was to be paid by an NGO and the balance of Rs 5 lakh was to be paid jointly by Union Minister for Culture Mahesh Sharma who represents the constituency in the Parliament and by Sangeet Som, a BJP MLA.

These incidents have brought into sharp focus not just the anomalies that exist in the payment of compensations to the families of the martyrs by various states, but also questions the very need to dole out such compensations at all.

While some states pay a paltry amount of Rs 2 lakhs, there are others who dole out compensations to the tune of Rs 1 crore. This huge variation in the amounts depending on the states to which the martyrs belong tends to lead to heartburn among the families of the less privileged who have to perforce console themselves with small amounts.

Matter of right

Taking advantage of emotions of nationalism and goaded by greedy relatives, the families of the martyred personnel demand huge compensations as a matter of right. To add to the woes of the state administration, the media hype serves as a catalyst forcing the authorities to meekly accede.

What seems to have been ignored is the fact that there are provisions already laid down in the rules of the Defence forces, the para-military and the police for ex-gratia amounts to be paid to the next of kin of the martyrs. These are no small amounts considering the fact that they hover in the range of around Rs 50 lakh for each martyr.

There can be no denying that in certain states the amount could be less for police martyrs but these amounts can be enhanced.

To bring about some semblance of uniformity, the State Police Chiefs who would be meeting in Hyderabad next month for the annual conference could arrive at a decent figure of ex-gratia amounts to be paid to the families of police martyrs for all states.

That would do away with the need for announcing compensation every now and then when a police personnel is killed in line of duty. Any compensation demanded beyond the laid down amount should straightaway be rejected.

In their enthusiasm to gain popularity among the masses, the chief ministers dole out huge amounts to the families of martyrs ignoring the fact that they are custodians of public exchequers and it is their sacred duty to expend the money judiciously.

(The writer is Inspector General of Police (Retd), CRPF)
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(Published 22 November 2016, 17:42 IST)

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