The Housing Minister of the Maharashtra Government on Wednesday agreed to allot a house to 26/11 terror attack victim Devika Rotawan under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS). This move by the housing department of the state has come two weeks after the Bombay High Court directed to consider the request of Ms. Rotawan and asked the state department to handle terror attack victim’s case with sensitivity so that basic human rights are not violated in the case.
Additional government pleader Jyoti Chavan informed the court that the housing department of Maharashtra has agreed to provide a residential home to Ms. Rotawan under the EWS scheme within 6 months’ time from today. Ms. Rotawan will get a house either in any project of the MHADA (Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority) or SRA (Slum Rehabilitation Authority).
The division bench of judges, Justice Girish Kulkarni and Justice Firdosh Pooniwalla said, “We appreciate the decision taken by the Housing Minister of state which according to us has granted real justice to the petitioner considering the suffering she has undergone all these years.”
Ms. Rotawan’s petition is disposed of by the court as judges bench noted that the housing department will allot her a house within 6 months.
In the 2008 terror attack, Ms. Rotawan (then 9-year-old) was shot by a bullet and since then she claims to have undergone surgeries. In her claims, she said that she continues to suffer with the aftereffects of the injury, is still under medication and periodical health treatment. Ms. Rotawan was a material witness in the terror attack trail that convicted terrorist Ajmal Kasab.
In her petition to the court, Ms. Rotawan said that she is still required to attend court hearings in connected matters and that has been causing her financial constraints as she has only received a meagre compensation from the government that didn’t suffice to get a home for herself. This is the reason she had approached the housing department requesting to help her with a home under the EWS scheme.
The housing department has earlier contended that Ms. Rotawan was paid off her deserved compensation. To this, on February 28, 2024, the high court came heavily on the government body and said, “We are quite astonished at the snail’s pace at which the decision is taken that too in a matter which raises issues of basic human rights and right to shelter of a victim of terrorist attack.” The justice bench had directed the housing department to take an appropriate decision and present it before the court within 2 weeks.
