Authorities tell victim’s daughters to give proof of relationship
It sounds inhuman, but is true. The authorities have asked family members of Mamata Thapa, killed by a terrorist at Kud on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway on June 13, to come with proof to establish that she lost her life in the encounter to pursue the case for ex gratia.
The authorities have flatly refused to provide a copy of the postmortem report to daughters of the terror victim, asking them to prove their relationship with the terror victim.
The government admitted in the Assembly on June 15 that Mamata Devi had lost her life in the Kud encounter while three others, including a woman, were injured.
The authorities, in order to pursue the case for ex gratia, are demanding authentic documents from the bereaved family, which is already in shock after the tragedy.
“Instead of healing our wounds, the authorities are rubbing salt on those by demanding legal documents to establish that our mother was killed in the encounter,” rued Mamata’s daughter Madhvi, tears rolling down her eyes.
“Everything is in black and white. Everybody knows that our mother lost her life. What else do they want? The attitude of the authorities is disgusting and inhuman. Instead of adopting a humane approach to wipe our tears, those at the helm of affairs are rubbing salt on our wounds,” she regretted.
Madhvi and her elder sister Megha had gone to collect a copy of the postmortem report of their mother, but the authorities refused to give it, demanding proof to establish their relationship with the deceased.
“It is really painful when the authorities refuse to give a copy of the postmortem report of our mother and question our relationship with her,” said a pained Megha.
Mamata’s family members have reason to blame the authorities for their inhuman approach as no official had visited the bereaved family in the past 10 days. The authorities had promised ex gratia within a couple of days, but nothing had been done so far.
“Ex gratia or other compensation is a secondary thing. First of all, the government is still not recognising that our mother lost her life in the terror attack. Instead of healing our wounds, we are being treated like criminals,” said Megha, recalling how the family was treated when they went to receive Mamata’s body.
The family said they were still searching for Mamata’s belongings. “Our mother’s ring is still missing. What to say of providing a vehicle to carry the body, we had to purchase a piece of cloth from the market to cover the body,” said Mamata’s son-in-law Amar.
