HC notice to Centre, state on plea for relief

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 18

On a plea by a “freedom fighter” seeking compensation for his grandfather’s “brutal death” in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued notice of motion to the Centre and the Punjab Government.

Taking up the petition filed by Mohan Singh through counsel GPS Bal, Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain also fixed the case for third week of February for enabling the respondent to respond to the issues raised.

Claiming that the compensation was “long overdue for the last over 97 years”, Mohan Singh submitted that the amount might be released to him as he was the grandson of Ishar Singh shot on April 13, 1919.

Going into the background, he contended that his grandfather, along with 15-16 other villagers, went to Amritsar for taking part in an assembly at Jallianwala Bagh. But he died on the spot due to firing during the speeches of prominent personalities.

Bal added the Government of India and State of Punjab have been launching welfare schemes for freedom fighters and their dependants ever since the country’s Independence. But the same have not matured due to the “apathy and negative mindset of the implementing agencies”.

He added the government took a conscious decision to award compensation to the kin of those killed in brutal firing in Jallianwala Bagh. “But the lopsided attitude of the respondent authorities is writ large and the kin of victims have been made to suffer. Persons like the petitioner, who are bedridden and in their ripe age, are being made to suffer for want of necessary compensation, benefits etc admissible to them,” he added.