Zeenews Bureau
Ahmedabad: The Narendra Modi government in Gujarat on Wednesday came in for harsh criticism from the state High Court, which verbally rapped it for failing to have provided compensation to religious places destroyed or damaged during the 2002 post Godhra riots.
Upholding a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Islami Relief Committee Gujarat (IRCG), the High Court ordered the Gujarat government to get repaired or reconstructed the places of worship which were damaged fully or partially during the riots.
The HC clearly stated that the religious places got damaged due to government negligence during the riots, triggered by the Godhra train burning incident.
While saying the state government led by Chief Minister Modi failed to protect the religious places, the HC also questioned the government as to why it failed to stop the riots.
The government failed, showed inaction and was negligent during the carnage, the court said.
The HC also set up a 26-judge committee to oversee the process of releasing compensation to such places of worship.
Petitioner’s lawyer Yusuf Muchhala had stated in court that a total of 294 religious places were damaged fully or partially during the riots. The government, Muchhala told the court, has listed around 595 such damaged structures.
The Modi government had argued in court that it was under no obligation to provide compensation to these places of worship.
First Published: Wednesday, February 08, 2012, 13:19