[1992 Mumbai Riots] Supreme Court seeks details of compensation paid to victims by State; reserves judgment

The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict in a petition seeking the implementation of the report filed by the Justice Srikrishna Commission which indicted many police officers and certain leaders of the Shiv Sena in relation to the 1992 Mumbai riots..A Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Abhay S Oka and Vikram Nath sought an affidavit from the State of Maharashtra detailing compensation provided to the victims of the riots within two weeks. The details sought are:"a) Whether the figure of 168 persons stated to be missing form a part of the 900 number of victims identified;b) Whether any compensation has been paid to legal heirs of the missing persons;c) What is the reference to the compensation paid to heirs of victims;d) Whether any compensation paid for loss of property;e) When was compensation paid, timeline between incident and compensation paid.".The Court was hearing a petition filed by a body called Action Committee for Implementation of Sri Krishna Report in 1998..Appearing for the petitioner on Tuesday, Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves emphasised that in cases where police officers are the subject of an investigation, the case must not be probed by the same agency. Further, prosecution should never be by the same agency to look into their brethren.The senior counsel went on to stress that in case of communal riots, the legal aid system must be more proactive so as to ensure that victims do not go without adequate representation. "In all these cases.. in communal riots...the legal aid system is completely defunct. The victims suffer the most terrible assaults. The legal aid system never comes to their assistance," he submitted..Finally, he argued that the compensation of ₹2 lakh provided to the victims was severely inadequate, particularly in light of its delayed payment. He urged the Court to consider this aspect, since it was the only injustice that could be undone. "2 lakhs as compensation shocks the conscience. This is something we can undo. Pay them compensation which is befitting for matters like this, where people have lost all hope," he said..After hearing the submissions, the Court called for additional details from the State government with regard to payment of compensation and reserved its order..[Read our live-coverage of the hearing]