Rs.7.77 lakh relief for widow of Liberty cinema blast victim

NEW DELHI - The Delhi High Court Monday directed the Delhi government to pay a compensation of Rs.7.77 lakh to the widow of a man who died in a terror attack in central Delhi’s Liberty cinema hall in 2005.

Justice S. Muralidhar said: “Apart from the general inability to tackle the volatile situation, in this case, the state agencies failed in their duty to prevent terrorists from entering Delhi.”

“It was their responsibility to see that dangerous explosives such as RDX were not available to criminals and terrorists. The incident occurred as there was a failure on the part of state to prevent it,” the court said.

The court rejected the Delhi government’s plea that it could not be faulted for Sita Ram’s death May 22, 2005 as he died in a “terrorist attack.”

“Such sufferance goes against the very grain of creation of a state or comity of individuals. The individual has surrendered certain individual rights for such safety. Taxes are paid for the functioning of a government. Safe environment is the very basic function,” it said.

Justice Muralidhar asked the city government, which had earlier paid Rs.one lakh as ex-gratia compensation to the family members of Sita Ram, to pay Rs.7.77 lakh to his widow, Yogita, and her two children within a month.

The court said the compensation would be divided into three parts and the amount, belonging to the children, would be kept as fixed deposits in bank.

The victim succumbed to injuries in the blast that rocked the hall at Karol Bagh. Fifty-five people were injured in the incident.

On the same day, another blast had also taken place at Satyam cinema hall in the national capital.

The city government took the plea that “there was no failure on the part of the police to take measures to avoid such incidents and for ensuring safety of the people.”

“The law concerning the liability of the state to account for the safety and security of its citizens and to compensate for the losses suffered as a result of acts of omissions and commissions of the state or its agencies is well established,” Justice Muralidhar said.

The court absolved the cinema hall owner of his liability to compensate the victim saying “clearly, a terrorist attack of this nature could not have been prevented by the owner of the cinema hall”.

“The citizens gave to themselves the constitution of India and adopted a democratic polity. Consequently, in the present case also, this court has no hesitation in holding that the state is liable to compensate the widow and her two children for the death of her husband as a result of the bomb blast,” the court said.