Centre in a jam over compensation to victims of April 2 violence

This is the first instance of compensation to be paid to victims’ after the SC on March 20 barred filing of an FIR under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, or PoA act, without a preliminary inquiry.

The ministry of social justice and empowerment is in a bind over instructing states to release compensation to the families of those killed in clashes during April 2 shutdown, an official familiar with the development said on Monday.

Protestors hurl brickbats as smoke billows out of burning cars during Bharat Bandh, in Muzzaffarnagar on April 2. (PTI file photo)

This is the first instance of compensation to be paid to victims’ after the Supreme Court on March 20 barred filing of an FIR under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, or PoA act, without a preliminary inquiry.

It was against this alleged dilution that Dalit outfits called the strike that left 11 people dead.

The law says the money can be paid only if the FIR is filed under PoA, said the official, who didn’t wish to be identified.

“If the ministry asks for preliminary inquiry to be conducted before filing the FIR, it goes against its stated position in court that the changes made to the act amount to dilution,” the official said, referring to the government’s review plea.

The ministry was in the process of filing an additional affidavit in SC this week. “The ministry wants to put forth that for the compensation to be released…, there should be no provision for preliminary inquiry,” the official said.