BHAGALPUR RIOT VICTIMS GET RELIEF

Twenty years after Bhagalpur riots, 844 families are finally going to get compensation. A total of Rs 29.54 crore, Rs 3.5 lakh for each victim will be distributed among hundreds of families affected by more than a month-long wave of violence sparked by the campaign for the Babri Masjid – Ram temple at Ayodhya. The large-scale killings that started after a Ram Shila procession had a clash with the Muslims in Bhagalpur town, spread to rural areas with rampaging mobs attacking Muslims, many of them Tasar silk weavers. The assistance from the Centre is at par with the relief given to the families of victims of two other instances of mass murders — 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the Gujarat communal riots of 2002.