Panditrao Dharennavar, assistant professor in a Chandigarh college who has translated Zafaranama into Kannada, decided to teach Zafarnama to widows of the hooch tragedy victims from Johal Nangal village of Gurdaspur district on Monday.
He said that the widows of the 17 victims of the hooch tragedy, which occurred about five months ago, were promised Rs. 5 lakh each as financial assistance by the district administration and a government job for at least one member of the family, but the assurance had not been fulfilled so far.

"Therefore, I have decided to teach Zafarnama to the widows and their children. This will give them strength to fight for their demands. Zafarnama was written by Guru Gobind Singh and was addressed to Mughal emperor Aurangzeb to tell him that finally truth would win. A couplet from Zafarnama rightly says that a man should keep his word and not say something with his mouth and have something else in his stomach. The Gurdaspur deputy commissioner promised the widows financial help and job, but till now he has not kept his promise," said Dharennavar.

He has also filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana high court seeking compensation for the families of the hooch tragedy victims. The chief justice has instructed the Gurdaspur DC to look into the matter. Dharennavar said the DC had even ignored the court's directions.

Deputy commissioner Abhinav Trikha said he had sympathy with the families of the victims of the hooch tragedy, but he had never promised any financial assistance or government job to them.