Sep
27
NHRC Extends Time for Filing Claims in Illegal Cremations Matter
September 27, 2004 | 1 Comment
On September 23, the National Human Rights Commission held its first hearing after beginning the collection of claims in the Punjab illegal cremations matter. At the hearing, the Chair Justice AS Anand expressed a desire to grant compensation to some families before Diwali:
During the hearing on Thursday, Anand, upbeat with the 1,591 compensation claims filed after NHRC’s public notice, said: “I want to do something for them before Diwali. Last year also, I promised compensation before Diwali but it could not happen. Let this not be frustrated.”
But he apparently forgot a crucial task. Most of the 1,591 claims are in Punjabi which he himself asked the NHRC registry to get translated in English with help from others.
More important is the fact that the Committee for Information and Initiative on Punjab (CIIP), which has been at the helm of the case right from the beginning, is opposed to any idea which attempts to “wash away the sin of the state by arbitrarily giving monetary compensation”. “Be it the Punjab government or the Centre, the mass cremation case is a blot which it would like to forget by paying some compensation,” says lawyer Ashok Agarwal of CIIP.
The relatives of the disappeared were given more time to continue to file claims.
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