Court to declare compensation in CP killings today

On July 4,another Monday,she will be eagerly awaiting closure of the matter as the Delhi High Court decides the quantum of compensation the state police must pay for gunning down down her husband Pradeep Goyal,along with another businessman Jagjit Singh,claiming they were gangsters.

“I firmly believe that the court judgement on Monday will give me the peace I have been looking for after the murder of my husband. The time after my husband’s death has been agonising beyond description. It has been a very long journey and now I want it to conclude,” Goyal said.

On March 31,1997,two businessmen — Pradeep Goyal and Jagjit Singh — were killed in a fake encounter by a team of Delhi Police officers at Connaught Place. Former ACP Rathi and nine junior policemen were sentenced to life by a trial court in 2007 for a “conspiracy” that led to the killing of the two innocent businessmen. The Delhi High Court upheld the punishment in September 2009,calling the “unprovoked indiscriminate firing” as “totally unjustified” and the apex court later upheld it. Demanding compensation for the wrongs committed,the two widows had also filed writ petitions in the High Court in 1997.

When asked about the importance of the ruling on the quantum of compensation,Goyal said she was compelled to restart her studies and take up a job after the death of Pradeep,who was the sole bread earner.

“I had a very difficult time buying even a square meal. I got a job in a private school as a teacher and started with a monthly salary of Rs 6,000. When the tragedy struck,my son was an infant. The incident completely changed my life,” she added.

Jaspal Kaur,Jagjit’s widow,also has high hopes from the court verdict and says she expects this judgment to be “exemplary” in every manner. No other family should ever be forced into penury because of ruthless policemen,she said.

Justice Muralidhar of the High Court had observed: “The State is liable to compensate them for the unnecessary deaths of their respective husbands. The question that remains to be decided is the quantum of compensation.”