High Court asks government to expedite compensation for riot victim

new delhi: The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi government to expedite the process of providing compensation to a victim of the North-East Delhi riots who had sustained a gun-shot injury.

A single-judge bench of Justice Pratibha M Singh has further directed the government to confirm whether the office of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate is open and whether it is entertaining applications for compensation.

The court gave these directions while hearing a petition filed by Shaan Mohd, who was taken to the hospital after being shot in his during the riots in February.

The petitioner said that even after submitting his MLC on three different occasions, his application for compensation had not been entertained. Given that the Delhi government's assistance scheme provides for Rs 2 lakh compensation with the immediate disbursal of Rs 25,000 in case of serious injuries, the court held that there should be no delay in processing this application.

The high court also directed the SDM to contact the petitioner by July 10 and let him know of any deficiency in his application if found.