New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday
asked the city government to pay over Rs seven lakh as
compensation to the widow and two minor children of a man who
died in a blast carried out at a cinema hall here in 2005
allegedly by Sikh terrorist group Babbar Khalsa International.
"Apart from the general inability to tackle the
volatile situation, in this case, the state agencies failed in
their duty to prevent terrorists from entering Delhi. It was
their responsibility to see that dangerous explosives such as
RDX were not available to criminals and terrorists. The
incident occurred as there was a failure on the part of state
to prevent it," Justice S Muralidhar said.
The court rejected the plea of Delhi government that
it cannot be faulted for the loss of the life as it was a
"terrorist attack."
"Such sufferance goes against the very grain of
creation of a state or comity of individuals. The individual
has surrendered certain individual rights for such safety.
Taxes are paid for the functioning of a government. Safe
environment is the very basic function," it said.
Justice Muralidhar asked the city government, which
had earlier paid Rs one lakh as ex-gratia compensation to the
family members of deceased Sita Ram, to pay Rs 7.77 lakh to
Yogita and her two children within a month.
The court said the compensation would be divided into
three parts and the amount, belonging to the children, would
be kept as FDRs in the bank.
The victim succumbed to injuries in the blast that
had rocked the Liberty Cinema hall at Karol Bagh here on the
evening of May 22, 2005. Fifty-five persons were injured in
the incident.
On the same day, another blast had also taken place at
Satyam Cinema Halls in the national capital.
PTI
