NEW
DELHI-- The Supreme Court has said that states are under obligation to
compensate victims of violence by cow vigilante groups even without any
judicial order. On Friday, a three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice
of India Dipak Misra, while hearing a petition by Congressman Tehseen S
Poonawalla and activist Tushar Gandhi who sought direction to states to
check cow vigilantism, said that states cannot "wash off their hands".
The
SC has asked the Chief Secretaries of 22 states to file compliance
reports in pursuance of its order on laying down a mechanism to sternly
deal with cow vigilante groups.
Earlier,
the court had directed all 29 states and seven union territories (UTs)
to take steps to stop violence in the name of cow protection and asked
them to appoint a senior police officer as the nodal officer in every
district within a week to check such vigilante groups.
"Let
the compliance reports be filed...nobody can wash off their hands (from
their duty). We will give directions to all the states," the bench
said.
The
bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, was
informed during the brief hearing that five states -- Uttar Pradesh,
Karnataka, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Gujarat, have already filed their
compliance affidavits and Bihar and Maharashtra would be filing it
during the day.
It
then asked the counsel for the remaining 22 states to file compliance
reports by October 13 and fixed PILs, including one filed by Tushar
Gandhi, the great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi on the issue, for hearing
on October 31.
At
the outset, senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for Gandhi, said
the central government be directed to frame a national policy on
preventing incidents of cow vigilantism. She also said there were
several judgements, which make mandatory the award of compensation to
the victims of such crimes, but unfortunately, the money was not being
paid.
Jaising
then raised the issue of Junaid, who was killed by a group of fellow
passengers while returning to his Ballabhgarh home with his brothers
after Eid shopping in Delhi on June 23
and said his family members were not paid any compensation and now, his
father is ill and undergoing treatment at a hospital in Noida in Uttar
Pradesh. "I am asking for the formulation of a scheme on compensation,"
she said.
The
bench asked her not to "mix up the issues" of cow vigilantes and
compensation. "Let us not mix the two. This is related to law and order.
File a separate petition and we will take a call," the CJI said.
Jaising
and senior advocate Kapil Sibal also raised the case of Pehlu Khan, who
was killed in Rajasthan, and said that far from getting justice, the
kin of the victims were being harassed through counter-cases.
