SC may give compensation to victims of gau rakshaks

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday indicated that it would consider award of compensation to the families of victims of cow vigilantism in various states, including to the next of kin of the father of 15-year-old Junaid, who was killed in a train.

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud gave this indication when senior advocate Indira Jaising pleaded for a direction to the states concerned to pay compensation to the victims. The CJI asker her to file a proper application so that the court could pass appropriate orders.  

The CJI observed that law and order was a primary concern for the court and sought reports from states in which such instances have been recently reported to give details about investigations into such cases. The court was informed that only five states had filed status reports and others had not filed affidavits. The bench granted further time to the other States.

During the last hearing, the bench asked the states to nominate a senior police officer, preferably of the rank of deputy superintendent of police, to ensure that vigilante groups don’t  “behave as if they are law unto themselves and take prompt action and prosecute such people with quite promptitude.

Ms Indira Jaising, appearing for journalist Tushar Gandhi, brought to the notice of the court 66 alleged incidents of mob lynching and assaults in the name of cow vigilantism after the central government’s undertaking in the court.

The petitioners, Congress activist Tehseen Poonawalla and others, had sought criminal action against cow vigilante groups whose recent rampages and lynchings have seen communal tensions rise in the country.

The petitions had also sought a direction to the Central and State governments to pull down all the videos of violence uploaded by cow vigilante groups from social media sites.

Jaising argued that the minor had been killed while traveling in the railways and his father has now been hospitalised in Noida. “The railways are liable. Compensation should have been released by now,” she told the bench. “This is apart from a fair investigation into his death.”

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal cited the example of the Uttar Pradesh report to claim that FIRs had in all cases been filed against the victims too, while most of the accused were out. The bench, however, said that it would examine these reports later when all the states had filed their reports. The bench listed the case for further hearing on October 31.