New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the Centre on a petition complaining that about Rs. 68 lakh compensation awarded by the Japanese Government to families of the victims of genocide perpetrated by its army in the Andaman Nicobar Islands in 1942 has so far not reached the beneficiaries.

Two instalments

The petition filed by Homfraygung Martyrs Memorial Committee through counsels R. C. Kohli and Bhupender Yadav alleged that though the compensation amount was awarded in two instalments between 1952 and 1963, the same has not been disbursed to the victims by the Indian Government.

The committee comprises those persons who claim to be the family members and descendants of the genocide victims.

According to the petition, the Japanese Army, which occupied the Andaman Nicobar Islands in 1942 during the Second World War, branded Indians as spies of Englishmen and killed nearly 2,000 persons in the islands by adopting various torture methods.

Torture methods

The alleged torture methods included forcing 1,300 of the victims jump into the sea .

After Independence, the Japanese Government, accepting the folly of its army, signed two treaties with the Indian Government in Tokyo in 1952 and 1963 under which it released Rs. 68 lakh as compensation to the surviving family members of the victims.

The petition alleged that intriguingly all these years, the Government officials concealed the receipt of the compensation amount; and it came to light only during February 28, 2003, when one of the descendants wrote a letter to the Centre seeking certain clarifications.

The petitioners further said they obtained a copy of the said treaty between India and Japan when they met Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee in 2002.

According to the petitioners several representations made by the claimants to the officials so far had proved futile forcing them to knock the doors of justice. — PTI

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