Fresh probe into Bhagalpur riot ordered

Patna, Feb 24 (UNI) In order to provide justice to the victims of Bhagalpur riot of 1989 for their proper rehabilitation, the Bihar Government today decided to constitute a one-man judicial commission for a fresh probe into the incident.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told newspersons here that the Cabinet had approved the proposal for the constitution of a judicial commission and the Chief Justice of Patna High Court would be requested soon for recommending either a sitting or a retired judge for the purpose.

He said the decision for a fresh judicial probe into Bhagalpur riot had been taken under Commission Of Inquiry Act. A timeframe of six months had been set for submitting the report.

Mr Kumar said the government had reopened the 27 cases related the riot which were closed by the police despite ample evidences.

The commission would probe whether the cases were investigated properly and the manner adopted for prosecution in the cases. The commission had also been entrusted to probe under what circumstances several accused were exempted and what were the hurdles hindering the rehabilitation programmes.

Mr Kumar said the Bihar government had made a written request to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for providing rehabilitation package to the Bhagalpur riot victims at par with the Sikh victims of 1984 riots.

He said the state government would deposit in a Bank Rs one crore 17 lakh loan taken by the riot victims, including weavers and those associated with the silk industry, and would also initiate process to waive off the interest on the loans.

The Chief Minister outlined some of the important decisions taken for the weavers and powerloom owners who were victims of Bhagalpur riots and said the government had decided for settlement of the electricity dues up to December 2005 of the powerloom owners and weavers. All the weavers had been asked to pay the electricity bill from January 2006 and their damage electric metres would be replaced.

Meanwhile, former Union Minister Sayed Shahnawaz Hussain hailed the governments decision regarding Bhagalpur riot and said Mr Kumar had fulfilled the promises he made to the people. The government was impartial in ordering fresh probe into the Bhagalpur riots and it was evident with the fact that Kameshwar Paswan, one of the main accused of the riots, belonged to BJP, the alliance partner of the NDA government, he said.

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