The compensation of Rs. 45 lakh paid by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to the family of Mohammed Akhlaq, who was lynched by a mob in Dadri, has been challenged in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court by way of a public interest litigation, saying the decision looked “arbitrary”. A petition in this connection was filed on Wednesday (October 7, 2015) by social activist Nutan Thakur. Akhlaq’s family has been given financial assistance of Rs.45 lakh by the chief minister.
Citing similar compensations of Rs.50 lakh and Rs.20 lakh, respectively to Zia-Ul-Haq and village head Nanhe Yadav’s family in the Kunda triple murder incident, Thakur had filed a petition in 2013 requesting the court to direct the state government to frame a definite policy for compensation in murder cases. On this, the court had ordered the state government to present its policy over murder compensation.
In the affidavit filed by then principal secretary (Home) R.M. Srivasatav, the state government had said it already has definite policies for compensation, where for deaths of government servants in special hazardous conditions, Rs.15 lakh was given, while for death of earning members of destitute families was compensated through the Chief Minister’s Discretionary Fund where the limit was Rs.5 lakh, though the chief minister can provide higher amounts on his discretion.
As per the affidavit, Zia-Ul-Haq was compensated through ex-gratia rules and the chief minister’s discretion while Yadav’s family was compensated through the UP Discretionary Fund.
Thakur on Wednesday presented an application before the high court, saying that even after this petition, the state government has been awarding such compensation quite arbitrarily as seen in the Jagendra Singh and Akhlaq cases, and hence the matter be heard at the earliest to stop this arbitrariness.
