Delhi High Court Rules Victim Compensation Scheme Not Applicable Retrospectively; 1984 Riot Claim Rejected
Clarifying the legal position, a bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar also noted that DVCS compensation can be paid only in cases where victims have not already received money under other govt compensation schemes.
The court was hearing a plea by a family that lost its breadwinner in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots following Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination. Avtar Singh, a Sikh, was killed by a rampaging mob in the Raj Nagar area of Palam.
The men accused were later acquitted in 1986.
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The HC traced the DVCS's origin to Section 357A of the erstwhile CrPC, which dealt with victim compensation. It opined that since the scheme owes its existence to Section 357A, it should apply prospectively.
It added that "retrospective application of either the provisions of Section 357A of the CrPC or the DVCS would open the floodgates for all and sundry to rake up old and stale claims seeking compensation, be it for an incident occurring just before the introduction of the scheme or three decades prior, like in the present case."
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While rejecting the compensation claim, HC noted that the complainant, Baljeet Kaur, disclosed in an affidavit that her family had already received a total of Rs 11,90,000 from the govt for the death of her father, Avtar Singh, in the 1984 Sikh riots.
"Clause 4 (of DVCS) restricts eligibility for compensation to victims or their dependents who have not been compensated for the loss or injury under any other scheme of the Central Govt or State Govt.
This clarifies that the DVCS was formed as an umbrella scheme to provide relief to those victims who have been deprived of compensation through any other scheme or Act," HC noted, after amicus curiae appointed in the matter, Senior Advocate Sumeet Verma, argued that Singh's family is entitled to additional compensation under DVCS.
The bench noted that the "incident in question took place in the year 1984, and since then, multiple schemes have been introduced by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt of India, and later adopted and implemented by state govts, including the Delhi govt.
A review of these schemes shows that the total monetary benefit, without indexation, would surpass the upper limit of compensation prescribed under the DVCS. The govt has taken additional initiatives to reimburse the victims for property damage and loss, and skill development as well.
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While this case was one of five reopened in 2017 due to a botched investigation into the 1984 riots, the verdict narrowed down on the issue of compensation payable, after it emerged that accused Mahender Singh Manan, also known as Mahender Sharabi, and Ram Kumar, are now dead.
However, HC made it clear that its ruling won't exclude any victims affected by the riots who have not received compensation under any schemes from lodging their claims under other existing schemes. The bench directed that such claims be verified by authorities within a period of sixteen weeks of receipt and, if approved, payments be made within a period of eight weeks.
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