Almost 25 years after three men were shot at by the Delhi Police in Connaught Place in 1997, the Delhi High Court on Friday directed the Centre to pay a compensation of `15 lakh plus 8 per cent interest per annum to the sole survivor of the encounter.

The order came on a petition filed by one Tarun Preet Singh seeking compensation of `1 crore from the Government. The petition had been pending since 1998.

The court observed that although the disability of the petitioner was not a major disability, “the fact that he has not been able to lead a normal life for the last 25 years cannot be ignored” and “for a young boy of 20 years of age, the suffering of any kind of disability due to no fault of his cannot be justified or trivialised”.

“Accordingly, keeping in mind inflation rates, a sum of `15 lakh is awarded as compensation, which shall be paid along with simple interest @ 8% per annum, from the date of the incident till the date of payment.

In addition, a sum of Rs two lakh shall also be awarded as litigation costs to the Petitioner,” Justice Prathiba M Singh said in her order.

The court directed the Centre to pay the compensation amount within eight weeks.

The petitioner was stated to be 20-year-old when his car faced indiscriminate firing which resulted in the death of his two friends. He suffered a disability in his right arm and continues to live with shrapnel in his body.

According to the petitioner, in March 1997 Singh was meeting two of his friends -- Jagjit Singh and Pradeep Goyal - near Barakhamba Road in Connaught Place when a 10-member team of the Delhi Police’s crime branch stopped him and opened fire at their blue sedan. Jagjit and Pradeep died after being taken to hospital, Tarun Preet survived.

His counsel told the Court that though he was discharged from the hospital in April 1997, he is living with shrapnel in his body till today and has a disability in his right hand.

While Jagjit and Pradeep’s families were granted a compensation of Rs 15 lakh each in the year 2011, Tarun Preet received an ad-hoc compensation of Rs one lakh in 1999.

Deciding on Singh’s plea, the judge also awarded a sum of Rs two lakh as litigation costs to him while noting that the injury caused to him was an act of the police officials who were acting in their official capacity and have been awarded life sentences in the consequent criminal case.

“He (the petitioner) is working in a cloth shop, has two children and a family to take care of. The time that has gone by also cannot be compensated for him. Injury caused due to the State action and that too one, where the police officials were convicted of criminal offences and not some inaction or negligence, need to be considered at a higher standard as compared to those of ordinary cases of negligence and inaction,” stated the court in its order dated April 26.

Police had said the target of the operation was gangster Mohammed Yasneen, who was also expected to be travelling in the same coloured car.