Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: August 31, 2022 at 20:25 IST
The Supreme Court reserved Judgement on a 1998 petition that asked for the execution of the Justice Sri Krishna Commission’s report regarding the riots in 1992 in Bombay.
A Bench comprising of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, AS Oka, and Vikram Nath asked the State of Maharashtra for answers regarding the compensation given to riot victims.
Mr. Gonsalves argued that the victims of the riot were abandoned in the chaos that followed. Legal aid support was severely lacking. He pleaded with the Court to strengthen the legal aid system so that it would be better prepared to tackle such situations in the future, even though it might not be possible to reopen the prosecution at this point.
In reference to the work done by CJI UU Lalit in his capacity as Executive Chairperson of NALSA, Justice Kaul said that legal aid has advanced to new heights under CJI’s supervision. As a result, given the radical changes legal aid has undergone since the petition was filed in 1988, the relief sought may no longer be appropriate.
Each victim was to be paid a compensation of Rs. 2 lakh. Mr. Gonsalves fiercely claimed that not everyone had received the compensation and that those who had done so did so over two decades after they were due it.
According to him, a proper compensation should not be less than Rs. 2 crore, as it has taken almost three decades for it to be paid. He beseeched the Bench to make sure the victims at least got the compensation they deserved.
Even after acknowledging the Committee Report’s observation, Mr. Gonsalves noted, erring officers were promoted. He highlighted that all officials implicated had been exonerated. The victims were left out of the procedures, he claimed, both throughout the trial and the departmental proceedings.
Justice Kaul observed that some of the cases had reached the Supreme Court after reading the documents. In such situation, did the Senior Counsel also seek a review of the Supreme Court’s action, he asked.