Supreme Court admits plea seeking compensation to 2002 Gujarat riot victims equal to victims of Muzaffarnagar

Gagan Sethi

By A Representative
The Supreme Court of India has admitted an appeal filed by senior human rights activist Gagan Sethi of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Ahmedabad, asking for further compensation and rehabilitation of the victims of the 2002 riots in Gujarat on the lines of what the court had ordered for the victims of Muzzafarpur riots in UP, which took place two years ago.
A statement from the CSJ, which has been fighting for fair compensation to the Gujarat riots victims ever since the 2002 riots, says, “A bench comprising of Justice Anil R Dave and Kurien Joseph passed and orders admitting the appeal after hearing Sanjay Hegde senior advocate for the petitioner, and Tushar Mehta, additional solicitor general for the Union of India.”
Referring to the Gujarat High Court order of 2011 which said that it could not look into employment of kin of riots victims on compassionate ground as it was a policy matter, Mehta reportedly wanted the apex court to dispose of the appeal, given the passage of time, even as contending that no compassionate appointments could now be made for children of the 2002 riot victims.
Hegde, however, argued, the High Court judgment on this “was not in terms of the Supreme Court's judgment of 2004”, and that there was “continuing need for further schemes of relief.” The appeal has been put on full hearing for a later date.
Controversy around compensation to riot victims goes back to 2008, when the former UPA government announced than an ex-gratia amount of Rs 3.5 lakh or more to the kin of the victims who lost their lives during the riots – in all, 1169 people were to be paid compensation, including 59 persons who died in the train burning on February 27, 2002 at Godhra. Another Rs 1.5 lakh was to be paid to each of the 2,548 persons injured.
The announcement said, the total package of money should be equivalent to 10 times the compensation paid by the state after riots, minus the amount already paid will be paid for financial loss due to damage or loss to residential, commercial and industrial properties.
The process of distribution of this package was to be completed before October 2008. The state government had to verify the claims, distribute compensation and issue utilization certificate to the Government of India within 45 days, till December 15, 2008.
Apart from this, compassionate recruitment in government service was to be given to children/family members of deceased victims in recruitment by giving necessary age relaxations.
Finding that the Gujarat government was taking a “narrow approach” to identify riots victims, the CSJ approached the High Court, along with Antakrik Vistaphit Hak Rakshak Samiti (AVHRS), filing a Public Interest Litigation. In lieu of this petition, the Gujarat High court has passed orders at different stages for the disbursement of compensation, CSJ said.
However, in 2011, the PIL was set aside asking the state government to speed up payment of compensation, making CSJ approaching Supreme Court in 2012 saying there are still “gaps”, and a “huge chunk of the affected population” has been left unaddressed. It also said, Gujarat government was taking a “very limited scope in terms of disbursement of the compensation, in comparison to the 1984 Sikh riot, where the widows and old age persons were paid a pension at a uniform rate of Rs 2500 per month for the whole life.”
The plea to the Supreme Court wanted constitution of a committee under the ombudsman to verify the claims of compensation against the damages to property; payment of compensation to families living in rented houses who were not able to avail the due compensation, as they did not have house documents in their name; compensation to people who have had permanent disability due to injury during the riots; job to the orphaned because of the riots and now are of age; and a permanent pension to the widows of those killed during the riots.
After hearing both the sides, the apex court admitted the appeal and placed it for a full hearing on a future date. Welcoming the development, well-known human rights activist Shabnam Hashmi said, this suggests that the “fight for justice is still on despite dark times.”
Former Planning Commission member Sayeda Hameed said, “The news from the Supreme Court gives me reason to hope. Today begins the three day mourning for Hazrat Ali and Ramadan takes on added meaning. It also marks the fact that in Shahadat (literally means 'witness') is the ultimate victory. During times like these, news like this is fresh rain on parched earth.”

Comments

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai* The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.

Lata Mangeshkar, a Dalit from Devdasi family, 'refused to sing a song' about Ambedkar

By Pramod Ranjan* An artist is known and respected for her art. But she is equally, or even more so known and respected for her social concerns. An artist's social concerns or in other words, her worldview, give a direction and purpose to her art. History remembers only such artists whose social concerns are deep, reasoned and of durable importance. Lata Mangeshkar (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was a celebrated playback singer of the Hindi film industry. She was the uncrowned queen of Indian music for over seven decades. Her popularity was unmatched. Her songs were heard and admired not only in India but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and many other South Asian countries. In this article, we will focus on her social concerns. Lata lived for 92 long years. Music ran in her blood. Her father also belonged to the world of music. Her two sisters, Asha Bhonsle and Usha Mangeshkar, are well-known singers. Lata might have been born in Indore but the blood of a famous Devdasi family...

'Batteries now cheap enough for solar to meet India's 90% demand': Expert quotes Ember study

By A Representative Shankar Sharma, Power & Climate Policy Analyst, has urged India’s top policymakers to reconsider the financial and ecological implications of the country’s energy transition strategy in light of recent global developments. In a letter dated April 10, 2026, addressed to the Union Ministers of Finance, Power, New & Renewable Energy, Environment, Forest & Climate Change, and the Vice Chair of NITI Aayog, with a copy to the Prime Minister, Sharma highlighted concerns over India’s ambitious plans for coal gasification and the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR).

Beyond Lata: How Asha Bhosle redefined the female voice with her underrated versatility

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The news of iconic Asha Bhosle’s ‘untimely’ demise has shocked music lovers across the country. Asha Tai was 92 years young. Normally, people celebrate a passing at this age, but Asha Bhosle—much like another legend, Dev Anand—never made us feel she was growing old. She was perhaps the most versatile artist in Bombay cinema. Hailing from a family devoted to music, Asha’s journey to success and fame was not easy. Her elder sister, Lata Mangeshkar, had already become the voice of women in cinema, and most contemporaries like Shamshad Begum, Suraiya, and Noor Jehan had slowly faded into oblivion. Frankly, there was no second or third to Lata Mangeshkar; she became the first—and perhaps the only—choice for music directors and all those who mattered in filmmaking. Asha started her musical journey at age 10 with a Marathi film, but her first break in Hindustani cinema came with the film "Chunariya" (1948). Though she was not the first choice of ...

50 years of the Port of Spain miracle: The chase that redefined Indian cricket

By Harsh Thakor* Fifty years ago, India turned the tide to rewrite cricket history, rising from the depths of despair to a moment of enduring glory. Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad, is celebrated among cricket grounds for its poetic beauty. For India, it became a theatre of historic triumph. In 1976, it showed the cricketing world what it was made of.

Search This Blog