By IANS,
Gandhinagar: An appeal seeking compensation for the death of a man due to “negligent firing by army personnel” during riots in Gujarat in 1985 has been referred to the chief justice of Gujarat High Court after a split decision on it by the division bench.
The division bench comprising Justice Jayant Patel and Justice S.R. Brahmbhatt differed in the opinion on the petition.
The petitioner Khatunbibi Rathod’s husband Gulam Rasool was killed in firing June 20, 1985, during the annual Rathyatra procession in the Dariapur area of Ahmedabad.
The state government awarded ex-gratia compensation of Rs.20,000. But Rathod filed a civil suit in 1986 seeking a higher compensation of Rs.1.10 lakh, which the court dismissed.
A single bench of the high court later rejected her appeal. Rathod then approached the the division bench.
According to Rathod, her husband died on the terrace of her neighbour’s house when he went there to collect a quilt kept for drying. She alleged that the troops fired recklessly without warning, leading to her husband’s death.
However, the state government said that the army fired on orders after a stone-pelting mob did not heed to warnings.
In a judgment made available Wednesday, Justice Brahmbhatt favoured rejecting Rathod’s petition saying that the death to her husband was not a deliberate act of killing someone.
But Justice Jayant Patel concluded that the state is liable to give relief to the deceased’s wife for wrongful deprivation of life of her husband. He said the government was liable to give compensation of Rs.90,000 with 7 percent interest
When the army is working under the instructions of the executive magistrate, who is a state officer, it cannot be said to be an action of the army under its military power, but an operation on behalf of state, he ruled.
He said the state would then be liable for compensation for any lapse by a soldier deployed for the purpose entrusted by the government.