The Jharkhand government has announced that it will compensate 91 people who suffered property damage during a violent clash in Lohardaga district in 2020. The clash erupted when a pro-CAA rally by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad was met with resistance by some locals.
The compensation, amounting to Rs 51.53 lakh, will be given to people from both Hindu and Muslim communities, whose shops, motorcycles or other belongings were torched or vandalized during the incident. The government has amended a 2010 resolution to include communal tension, violence or riot as a cause for compensation.
The process of disbursing the compensation will start by the end of this month, according to Lohardaga Deputy Commissioner Waghmare Prasad Krishna. He said that the compensation was decided after verifying the claims of the affected people and assessing the extent of damage.
The clash in Lohardaga took place on January 23, 2020, when members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad took out a procession in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a controversial law that grants citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. During the rally, a confrontation broke out between the rallyists and some locals, leading to stone pelting and arson attacks. A curfew was imposed for more than a week, and more than 25 people were arrested.
The Jharkhand government’s decision to compensate the victims of the clash is in contrast to the states of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, which have moved to attach the properties of those accused of causing damage as a means of recovering the losses. The Jharkhand government has said that it is committed to maintaining communal harmony and peace in the state.
