Holding the state liable for its failure to protect the life and liberty of citizens, the Delhi high Court has directed the Centre to pay a compensation of Rs 1.23 lakh each to all those who suffered injuries during the anti-Sikh riots following the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi [Images] here in 1984.

"It is the bounden duty and responsibility of the state to secure and safeguard the life and liberty of an individual from mob violence," Justice Gita Mittal said in her landmark judgment which would benefit about 2,800 Sikhs injured during
the riots in the capital.

The court asked the government to pay the compensation within a month to one Manjit Singh Sawhney, who was injured in an attack by an angry mob which killed seven others at Tuglaqabad Railway Station on November 1984.

It also asked the Centre to pay him an additional amount of Rs 11,000 as cost of protracted litigation that went on for
four years in the High Court.

Most importantly, to secure parity among all those who suffered injuries during the riots and were given an ex-gratia
amount of Rs 2,000 only, Justice Mittal ordered that they all be paid the enhanced amount.

It took note of the fact that in the case of Bhajan Kaur, who lost her husband on the same place during the riots, a general order was passed in July 1996 directing the Centre to pay the enhanced compensation in all similar cases.