Ensure justice not compensation for 1984 riot victims: PUDR

The People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) Tuesday criticized the Modi government for not ensuring justice for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and instead increasing the monetary compensation.

"Both the UPA and the NDA governments have remained mute on the punitive actions against the perpetrators of the crime who conspired and participated in the massacre of the Sikhs," PUDR said in a statement.

"We appeal to the victims to be aware that successive governments have suppressed the real issue of justice which can only be met through bringing perpetrators of the crime to justice, and not by doling higher blood money to the victims," it added.

"We condemn the government for reducing the quest for justice of the victims of anti-Sikh carnage into a cruel joke by engaging in competition for paying higher blood money to them."

On the 30th anniversary of the 1984 carnage, Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced that compensation to the victims killed in the riots would be enhanced from the existing Rs. 3 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh.

This cash enhancement has been announced under the union government scheme for assistance to civilian victims of terrorist, communal and Naxal violence launched by the UPA government in 2008, the PUDR said.