No decision on compensation to 1984 riot victims: Home Ministry to Election Commission

New Delhi, Nov 3: The Home Ministry today informed the Election Commission that it has not taken a decision on providing Rs five lakh compensation to the next of kin of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims and has thus not violated the Model Code of Conduct.

Responding to an EC letter, the ministry clarified that it has not taken a decision and not formally announced it.

As the deadline ended this evening for it to respond to the EC letter, the ministry made its stand clear on the issue. The ministry told the poll body the it has not violated the MCC, EC sources said.

It may be recalled that the Government had expressed its intention to give Rs five lakh each to the next of kin of 3,325 victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots triggered after assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Of the 3,325 victims, 2,733 were killed in Delhi alone while rest of the victims were from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states.

The Narendra Modi Government had received several petitions from various Sikh organisations in the last three months about the grievances of the victims' families.

The fresh compensation is expected to cost the exchequer Rs 166 crore. The anti-Sikhs riots were triggered following the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.

PTI