K'taka pays Rs 25 lakh compensation to kin of communal violence victims

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddarmaiah on Monday gave a "compensation" cheque of Rs 25 lakh and announced jobs to the families of the six people who were killed in communal incidents since 2018.

The chief minister said he will make sure that no such 'unnatural deaths' take place in the state.

According to Siddaramaiah, Deepak Rao (Dakshina Kannada district) was killed on January 3, 2018; Masood (Dakshina Kannada district) on July 19, 2022; Mohammed Fazil (Dakshina Kannada) on July 28, 2022; Abdul Jalil (Dakshina Kannada) on December 24, 2022; Idrish Pasha (Mandya) on March 31, 2023; and Shamir (Gadag) on January 17, 2022 were killed in different incidents.

While Deepak Rao was hacked to death when Siddaramaiah was the Chief Minister five and half years ago, the other five lost their lives during BJP rule.

The chief minister said the previous BJP government discriminated against people while giving relief and gave compensation only to the family members of Praveen Nettar, a BJP leader from Dakshina Kannada, and Harsha, a Bajrang Dal activist, from Shivamogga who were killed last year.

When Praveen Nettar was killed, the then chief minister (Basavaraj Bommai) had gone to his house, which was right but he should have also gone to Masood and Fazil's houses, Siddaramaiah said.

"As Chief Minister, Bommai had given jobs to the family members of Harsha and Praveen Nettar. That is okay but shouldn't others be given (jobs and compensation)?" he wondered.

The then government did not give any compensation to next of kin of the six victims, the Chief Minister said. "Today we are doing justice to their families. Along with that we will investigate the case and ensure punishment to the guilty involved in the crime".

He said that as the then leader of the opposition, he had proposed in the Karnataka Assembly jobs and compensation to the family members of Muslims who were killed, but the BJP government did not agree for it.

"After our government came to power, we are giving compensation of Rs 25 lakh each to the families and 'successors' of those six people who were killed. We will give jobs to them because everyone should be looked at equally. The Government should not discriminate against people. The BJP people have discriminated. To rectify things, we are doing this work," Siddaramaiah explained.

He also said the government will get the cases investigated to ensure punishment to the guilty involved in the crime.

The chief minister also cautioned against communal clashes and moral policing in the state.

"We will not give room for such unnatural deaths. We will make every effort to see that there are no communal clashes in the state. Whoever they are, be it Hindus or Muslims, no one should die in communal clashes and no one should take law into their hands," he said.

Siddaramaiah said he has given directions to police to check moral policing, adding that the government will not allow anyone to take law into their hands.

"We would like to give this clear message to the people of the state. We will protect everyone, be it Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikh. It is the responsibility of the government to protect everyone, their properties and life. No discrimination so far as the law enforcement is concerned," the chief minister said.