Hiba’s compensation money to materialise only in 2021

A cash compensation of Rs one lakh state government announced for the 20-month-old baby Hiba, after she was blinded in one eye by pellets, will not be available to her economically challenged parents until 2021.

The infant, Hiba Jan was hit in her right eye with pellets fired by government forces during disturbances in Shopian on November 25. 

   

Days after Hiba received a grievous, vision impairing pellet injury to her eye the state government announced a compensation of Rs one lakh. 

However, the compensation cannot be encashed until 2021, a family member said.

Hiba’s father, Nisar Ahmad Bhat, an agricultural labourer has had to meet the high costs of treatment for the child all by himself.

“The assistance has been provided as a fixed deposit in the name of the victim, with maturity date three years ahead,” he said, describing the assistance claim by government as “a cruel joke on the child.”

This has put the entire burden of the treatment costs for Hiba on her poor family. 

Hiba’s father has been dividing his days between daily-waged work and hospital visits with his daughter.

With their meager means, the family has been struggling to arrange money for surgery and medicines for Hiba. Travel between their home in Shopian and Srinagar’s SMHS Hospital, where Hiba has undergone two surgeries since her injury has also been tough on them.

District commissioner Shopian, Owais Ahmed, who handed over the compensation document to the family, said the amount had been “kept” in the name of the victim. 

“It’s a fixed deposit for three years,” Ahmed said, adding the family was being provided “other forms of assistance.” 

“We are helping them with treatment costs and extending whatever help they require,” he said. 

Ahmed also said the government was “in touch” with health department and Hiba’s family to ensure the “best possible” treatment for the child.

Bhat however denied receiving any assistance from the government apart from the compensation document. 

“I was called to deputy commissioner’s office few weeks ago for the compensation,” Bhat said, adding that was the only time he met anyone from the government.

A senior doctor at SMHS Hospital said each eye surgery at the hospital costs around Rs 15000. 

“Then there are other costs like medicines, investigations etc,” he said. 

However, victims of pellet shotguns and other firearms are left to fend for themselves, the treatment costs often draining them financially in the long run, the doctor said.

The child’s father said his aim was to do his best to get sight back in Hiba’s damaged eye. 

“I will do whatever I can, but my little girl should be able to see equally well with both eyes,” he said.

He complained the announcement of an inquiry into the pellet firing was “a formality”. 

Referring to Insha Mushtaq, a similar pellet victim from the same district who lost both eyes in 2016, Bhat asked, “What happened to other inquiries into similar cases? What happened to inquiry into Insha’s case?”

He also rued that no government representative visited the family to ascertain facts surrounding the incident. 

“No one spoke to us about how the incident took place,” he said.

Hiba’s mother said the child was injured in her eye at her home in Kaprin Shopian when government forces fired at the door of her home during clashes following a gunfight in a nearby village.

The family’s home had been filled with smoke from teargas shells, choking the child and prompting her mother to take her out for fresh air.

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