New Delhi, Aug 5: On the 2008 Kandhamal riots, the Supreme Court comprising of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice U U Lalit yesterday asked the Odisha government to pay an additional compensation of Rs 3 lakh to the families of each deceased.
Earlier, a 5lakh compensation was been given to the families out of which Rs 2 lakh was paid by the State govt and Rs 3 lakh by the Centre. It was also decided by the SC to provide Rs 30,000 to the severely injured in the riot and Rs 10,000 to the partially injured, as earlier; no compensation was given to the injured.
Two days back, the SC had ordered that as the earlier compensation was ‘inadequate’ for the families thus an additional compensation would be provided to the victims of the communal riot. The order also laid down the fact that 70,000 as additional compensation would be paid to people who had their houses completely damaged during the strife, out of which State government will pay Rs 50,000 and the Centre Rs 20,000. People with partially damaged houses will be given Rs 20,000 each by the State government, it added. However, nothing was stated in the order by the SC for the religious places which were destroyed in the riots neither the SC approved of a CBI enquiry into the matter. The verdict came on a petition filed by Archbishop Rachel Chennath.
Notably, on Aug 23, 2008 communal riots broke out in Kandhamal district and also in other parts of the state after the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati and four of his associates at his Jalespeta Ashram. The war which lasted for at least for a month resulted in the death of 38 approximately, most of them being Christians. The Sangh Parivar alleged that the Christians of the Christian community were the culprits behind the murder of swami Saraswati. But later it came out in the open that it was the Maoists who were behind the crime justifying their act by saying that he was punished for his deed of separating people on the basis of religious aspects.
