Communal tension violates Right to Life: SC

Supreme Court opined on Friday that a constant atmosphere of communal tension is a violation of the constitutional Right to Life guaranteed to the citizens of the country.

This was stated by the Court while, reproaching the Maharashtra Government for failing to stop the 1992-93 Mumbai communal riots that resulted in the death of 900 people dead, with more than 2,000 injured.

“Article 21 of the Constitution of India confers a right on every citizen to live with human dignity. Article 21 encompasses into itself the right to live a meaningful and dignified life... If citizens are forced to live in an atmosphere of communal tension, it affects their Right to Life guaranteed by Article 21...We cannot allow the victims to suffer only because there was a delay in the disposal of this writ petition,” held the Bench.

The court added: “It cannot be disputed that certain groups were responsible for the large-scale violence in December 1992 and January 1993. There was a failure on the part of the state government to maintain law and order and to protect the rights of the people guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.”

The Bench directed Maharashtra Government to trace the absconding accused and pay compensation to the riot victims.

The order came on the petition filed by Shakeel Ahmed in 2001, demanding implementation of recommendations made by the Justice B N Srikrishna Commission in 1998 on issues spanning compensation to the victims, efficient investigation, quick trials and police reforms.

A Division Bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, A S Oka and Vikram Nath stated that a constitutional court cannot shut its eyes towards the plight of victims just because the petition was pending in the top court for 21 years.

The apex court noted that 97 of 253 criminal cases were dormant because the accused were untraceable and ordered the state government to immediately constitute a special cell to trace the missing accused and make them stand trial.

“The state government shall provide details of 97 cases on dormant files to the Registrar General of the Bombay High Court within one month from today. On receipt of the details, the High Court, on the administrative side, shall issue necessary communication to the concerned courts, in which the cases are pending to take necessary steps to trace the accused,” it added. The Court further took note of a latest affidavit filed by the Maharashtra government that family members of 108 persons missing after the riots were not paid compensation of ₹ 2 lakh each because they could not be located or the families failed to fulfil the formalities.

On this Court directed the state government to “make all possible efforts to trace the legal heirs/family members of the missing persons” and pay all compensation within nine months, the top court set up a three-member committee, to be headed by the member secretary (a judicial officer) of the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority, to monitor this exercise. The committee has been asked to submit a compliance report after ten months.

The State Government has also been asked to pay interest at the rate of nine per cent to all the victims if it has not disbursed the compensation within six months of the government resolution dated July 22, 1998, announcing the monetary measure.

The order added, “900 persons died and more than 2,000 persons were injured. The houses, places of business and properties of the citizens were destroyed. These are all violations of their rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. One of the root causes of their suffering was the failure of the State Government to maintain law and order. Therefore, the affected persons had a right to seek compensation from the state government.”

“We hope and trust that after 75 years of independence, riot ­like situations will never arise,” added the court, as it directed the state government to expeditiously implement the recommendations made by Justice Srikrishna Commission regarding the improvement and modernisation of the police force.