The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday directed that a compensation of Rs 20 lakh be paid to the wife of a Shiromani Akali Dal leader of Punjab who was killed in 2015 in a shootout by the police who mistook him for a gangster.
The high court ordered the compensation to Mukhjit Singh Mukha’s wife Harjit Kaur. She had approached the high court against the Punjab government.
Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain gave the order as the court found the Rs 5 lakh compensation given by the then state government was inadequate.
The victim was only 38 years old when he was waylaid by a team of the Punjab Police in Amritsar district on June 16, 2015, and was indiscriminately fired upon.
Mukha received 23 gunshot wounds and died.
The Punjab Police later set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the incident. The police team responsible for the shootout admitted that they mistook Mukha to be a gangster.
The Akali Dal was in power when the incident took place.
The then Deputy Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal president, Sukhbir Singh Badal, who was also the state Home Minister, announced the Rs 5 lakh compensation. He also promised a government job to the victim’s wife but it was not given.
(IANS)
