Majority of Bhagalpur riot accused escaped judgement:JD(U) spokesman

Patna,Jun 20 (UNI)Charging RJD Chief Lalu Prasad and his party with being 'totally insensitive and unconcerned' about the fate of the 1989 Bhagalpur riot victims, the ruling Janata Dal(United) today demanded higher compensation for the victims' families.

Speaking to newsmen here,two days after the Sessions Court at Bhagalpur found 14 accused convicted of murdering 116 people at Logai village(in Bhagalpur)18 years ago, JD(U) All India spokesman Sivanand Tiwari regretted that though as many as 888 cases were inititally lodged in the local court during that time,chargesheet were filed in only about 329 cases.

The remaining 559 cases were, however, declared as ''final'' by the then authorities and no steps were taken against any of the accused involved in those cases, Mr Tiwari said.

Moreover,he alleged that at least 70 per cent of these 329 cases were declared as 'dismissed' during the intervening period and no action was also taken against anyone as most of the witnesses in these cases were ''either turned hostile or were found missing for some reason or the other''.

Citing the examples of 'no action' against three of the major accused in the Bhagalpur riot cases, Mr Tiwari claimed that despite having clear evidences of their involvement in the alleged killing of several people during the riot all cases against Kameswar Yadav,P C Ram and Randhir Sinha were either withdrawn or closed by the then authorities citing some ''unknown reasons''.

Mr Tiwari also alleged that Kameswar was an active member of RJD and was seen in association with Lalu Prasad.

Claiming that the ruling NDA had played a pivotal role in re-opening at least 27 of the ''final'' cases, including two against Kameswar yadav, so far, Mr Tiwari hoped that more people who were directly involved in that heinous crime would soon be brought to book.

He also demanded that the Centre should immediately declare the enhanced amount of compensation to the victims of the Bhagalpur incident and their near relatives at par with those given to the families of the Delhi riot victims in November 1984.Incidentally,the Bhagalpur riot victims were paid to the tune of Rs 1,10,000 each jointly by the Bihar and the Union governments.

UNI