Supreme Court issues notice to J-K Government on Jammu migrants relief

A three judge division bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice Tarun Chatterjee and Justice R.V. Raveendran, today issued notice to the Jammu and Kashmir Government through the states Relief Commissioner to update it on the status of relief being provided to Jammu migrants.

New Delhi, Aug.20 : A three judge division bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice Tarun Chatterjee and Justice R.V. Raveendran, today issued notice to the Jammu and Kashmir Government through the state's Relief Commissioner to update it on the status of relief being provided to Jammu migrants.

Responding to a contempt petition filed by the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP), the apex court gave a month's time to the State Government to respond to why it had defied a Supreme Court order dated July 12, 2006 to provide relief to the Jammu migrants.

Professor Bhim Singh, advocate for the petitioner (JKNPP), told the apex court that the State and the Central Governments had not implemented the Supreme Court's order, and this had resulted in starvation of at least 11,000 innocent migrants hailing from Doda, Rajouri, Poonch and Udhampur.

He submitted that the State Government had let loose a reign of terror on migrants, and cited the August 7, 2007 police attack on women and children in Katra as an example.

The Supreme Court allowed Singh to file an affidavit of Anita Thakur, a victim. Singh also mentioned how advocate H.C. Jhalmeria and senior journalist P.K. Ganju were beaten and taken into custody for supporting a migrants call for implementation of the Supreme Court order.

He said that police had broken Jhalmeria's leg after taking him into custody.

Singh, who has been fighting for the cause of Jammu migrants since 1998, described the Supreme Court notice as a vindication of the migrants just demands.

ANI