SGPC offers help to left out Jodhpur detainees

Amritsar : After 40 Jodhpur detainees got compensation through a local court, the SGPC has decided to help the remaining 325 Sikhs, who were arrested by the Army and police during Operation Bluestar. The SGPC has released advertisements in newspapers, inviting the victims or their families, who did not get compensation, to approach it by August 5 with the proof of their detention and relevant records.At least 365 Sikhs were detained in Jodhpur jail till 1989-90. More than 200 had filed the case in 1991. With the passage of time, some of them died and many others gave up. Eventually, only 40 came forward to make an appeal in 2011. In April 2017, a local court awarded a compensation of Rs 4 lakh each with 6 per cent interest, directing the state and Central governments to pay up. Recently, all of them got around Rs 11 lakh each. Congress MLA from Patti Harminder Singh Gill, who was also one of the detainees, said: “I have submitted a list of victims with the CM office. At least 100 of them have died. It is difficult to locate the remaining victims,” he said.