Rupa Mody, who lost her son in the Gulbarg society massacre, is among the hapless people still waiting for compensation.
Many victims of the communal riots of 2002 are still fighting for the compensation that was announced for them by the state and the central governments.
In response to a petition filed by the victims, the state government had submitted before the Gujarat high court that several applications for compensation were still under consideration and were at the verification stage.
According to the figures submitted by the state government before the high court, the government could not provide compensation in 6 cases because the victims could not be identified. Out of the 2,548 people who were injured in the riots, around 35 had not been paid compensation, the government said.
Another 360 people who had sought compensation for damage to their residence and 355 for damage to uninsured commercial and industrial property had not been paid compensation so far, the government had told the court.
However, in its order of September 7, 2011, the high court directed the district collector to expedite the process of consideration of applications of the victims who had not yet received compensation.
Utpala Vora, the lawyer who had filed the petition in the high court seeking payment of compensation for the riot victims, said that before disposing of the petition, the court had considered the issue and the interest of the victims. The court had then directed the victims to approach the concerned department.
“Now, the victims have to fight another battle with the state government to get compensation for their losses. The most desperate case is that of 56 shop-owners of Soni ni Chawl in Rakhiyal whose shops were destroyed during the riots. After the high court’s order, I have moved an application before the collector to expedite the process of consideration of their applications,” Vora said.
Among the other victims of the riots who are still fighting for compensation announced for them by the state and the central governments is Rupa Mody, a resident of Gulbarg society. Rupa’s 14-year-old son, Azhar, was never found after the massacre at the society during the riots.
Rupa Mody, who is a Parsi, said that officials had been coming up with one excuse or another to deny her compensation. But the harassment and delay have not demoralised her. In fact, they have made her even more determined to fight for justice.
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