Govt fails to honour SHRC recommendations
Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Aug 30: Justice eluded terrorism hit family for last 20 years whose seven members were killed by gun wielding terrorists on July 2, 1999 in Ari village of Mendhar tehsil in Poonch district as the successive Governments turned a deaf ear towards their plight.
Running from pillar to post for justice and punishment to the terrorists under law of the land who killed their kith and kin 21 years back and go scot free since then, despite the fact that the family members have approached every one in the erstwhile State as well as Union Government but no one paid a heed to them.
Though State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) while disposing off a petition filed before it by the aggrieved family which became victim of terrorism has sanctioned an ex-gratia relief of Rs 35 lakh at the rate of Rs five lakh per slain member, much to the ill luck of the family the J&K Government on flimsy grounds and by adopting avoiding tactics has dodged it over the years for the reasons best known to them.
“We have met every one in the administration and Government at Delhi as well as in J&K’’ said Rattan Lal Sharma, son of Roop Lal whose grand father grandmother, two brothers, Bhabi, one nephew and niece fell to the terrorists’ bullets on that fateful night.
He said the family had met the former Chief Minister of J&K and Union Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad as well as former Deputy Prime Minster, L K Advani and except assurances given by them nothing concrete was done in mitigating the sufferings of the family and punishing the terrorists and their supporters whom the family has fully identified and also submitted their names to the police for action.
He said fed up with the Government’s apathy, the family approached the SHRC which after scrutinizing the case and examining it in detail recommended sanction of Rs five lakh per head amounting Rs 35 lakh in total as compensation in September 2011 but the same has not been paid to the aggrieved family on flimsy grounds. It may be recalled that the Government had even made a policy to rehabilitate the children of slain militants but shockingly in its scheme of things there are no provisions of giving justice to a family who has lost its seven members in terrorist attack including its two bread earners, Rattan added.
Though, all human hearts will break down while hearing the horrible tale of the family members who had to bear the brunt of the terrorism but it is astonishing that those in the Government have no human heart to come to the rescue of the poor family living in a remote corner of J&K till now.
Rattan Lal, while demanding justice from the Government said that the family was promised three Government jobs by the Government headed by Dr Farooq Abdullah but this promise was also not kept and only one member of the family Rajesh Kumar was given a class-IV post in School Education Department. “My another brother Subash Chander was also promised the job but later he was denied on flimsy grounds by the authorities’’, he said. Much to the ill luck of the family Subash also died under mysterious circumstances in Jammu in February 2009. While family terms it a murder saying his one eye was gauged the police in its report has said that the death was caused by poisoning. The Government has failed to solve this mystery too, he added.
Sobbing and agitated father of Rattan, octogenarian Roop Lal said that they are still being threatened by the criminals who accompanied the terrorists during the night of attack. “We have been number of times warned that the remaining family members will face worst consequences in case they pursued the case. Even many times the stones were pelted on our houses. The entire family is scared”, he added.
He said the Government besides, class-IV job to one member of the family and an ex-gratia relief of Rs 7 lakh i.e Rs one lakh each for one member who were martyred by terrorists no support was extended to the family which is living from hand to mouth after losing its two bread earners in the terrorist attack.
Rattan, while narrating the tale of woes said on the fateful night of July 2, 1999 some local people including one SPO whom he identified forcefully barged into their house and started indiscriminate firing on the inmates and killed seven members including his grand father Jeevan Dass his grand mother Ishro Devi, his brothers Kuldeep Sharma and Ashok Kumar, his sister-inlaw Rita Devi, wife of Kuldeep Kumar and their two children Rekha Devi and Rajiv Sharma, a four year old boy. The other family members fled from the spot in the darkness and escaped the attack. They took refuge in Mendhar and since then they are battling for justice. But their all pleas had fallen on deaf years over the years as the authorities at the helm of affairs put all the rules and laws in dustbin while disposing off their files.
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