Despite repeated requests by the National Minority Commission, the state government has not followed the recommendations regarding rehabilitation and proper compensation to victims of 2007 Macca Masjid blast, according to civil society organisations fighting for justice to the victims. “Five years since the blast and the consequent police firing, only a few victims have received a paltry compensation, which does not meet the ends of justice,” said Major S.G.M. Quadri, president, Help Hyderabad, on Wednesday.
It does not bring back the life and liberty lost due to “wrongful incarceration and unwarranted physical and mental torture,” he said, adding, “Justice will not be done unless the victims are fully rehabilitated and the guilty policemen punished.” “(The devastation) was not due to any genuine mistake in the line of duty. Because of AP police’s communal bias, several muslim families were devastated, with relatives missing and means to livelihood destroyed,” he said.
The government this January ordered release of Rs 70 lakh for 70 young muslims, who were wrongly implicated in the case and allegedly tortured in police custody. The courts subsequently found them innocent. Twenty people were paid Rs 3 lakh each, while the others were paid Rs 20,000 each. Despite the government’s announcement, perhaps the first instance in India of victims of police torture in a terror case being paid compensation, confusion prevails among the minority community in the city, Major Quadri said. Besides compensation, there are many more recommendations that need to be implemented, he added further.