'84 riots: verify residence proof of victims, HC tells govt

The Delhi high court on Tuesday asked the Centre and Delhi government to examine the plea of a group of 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims, seeking grant of rehabilitation package on the basis of their residence here.

The Delhi high court on Tuesday asked the Centre and Delhi government to examine the plea of a group of 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims, seeking grant of rehabilitation package on the basis of their residence here.

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Taking up the pleas, seeking a grant of Rs 2 lakh each to seven persons belonging to Sikh families living in the Capital, justice Vipin Sanghi directed the Delhi government to verify their residential status and consider their pleas for grant in coordination with the centre.

The court asked the city government to ascertain the genuineness of the victims' pleas in two months and directed the Centre to grant money for disbursement within a month thereafter.

The anti-Sikh riots had broken in Delhi and other parts of the country after the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi in October 1984.

In their pleas, the victims claimed that they were living in various areas of Delhi during the riots, in which their properties, including shops, were destroyed by attackers. So, they had migrated to Punjab where they stayed for more than four years.

In 1986, the Punjab government had issued them Red Card, granting refugee status, the victims claimed in the petition. In 1988, they returned to Delhi to restart their business.

In 2006, the centre had announced a package of Rs 2 lakh to each family affected by the riots, they said in their petition.

The petitioners said when they applied for the package in Punjab, the state government denied it to them on the ground that they had returned to Delhi in 2007.