Balangir: Reema Sahoo, the survivor in the sensational wedding gift blast in February this year at Patnagarh of Balangir district, received Rs 1.5 lakh compensation from the legal services authority here.
Reema received the compensation from the Balangir Civil court premises. Another Rs 1.5 lakh will be provided to her after the conclusion of the hearing of the case. Reema is the only survivor in the blast while her newly-wed husband and his grandmother died in the explosion.
After undergoing treatment and surgery in Cuttack-based SCB Medical College and Hospital for more than a month, Reema is now living with her in-laws who treat her as their own daughter. She has expressed her wish to stay as the widow of her late husband. However, her family members have expressed their wish to get her married elsewhere and help her begin a new life.
Similarly, several victims in other cases also received compensation from the legal services authority.
“A total compensation of Rs 15.4 lakh was provided which included Rs 1.5 lakh for the victim of Patnagarh wedding gift blast case. This is a good scheme of the government in which the victims are provided with compensation,” Balangir District & Sessions Judge, Chittaranjan Mahapatra said.
On the other hand, the family members of Reema’s husband Soumyasekhar, who died in the blast, appealed the court for harsh punishment to the accused Punjilal Meher.
“We demand a harsh punishment for the culprit after immediate trial in the court. The conviction must be exemplary so that no one will ever try to commit such a crime again,” said Soumyasekhar’s father.
It may be noted here that the newly-wed groom Soumyasekhar and his grandmother were killed February 23 in an explosion while unwrapping a parcel received as wedding gift through courier. Reema had also sustained critical injuries in the blast.
The mastermind Punjilal Meher was arrested by the Crime Branch who later confessed to have killed hatched a plan to kill Soumyasekhar’s mother as she had taken over his seat as the principal of a college.
However, the blast killed Soumyasekhar and his grandmother as his mother and father had gone out for duty. The incident was the first of its kind and sent shockwaves across the world. The whole plot of the murder was also adapted for a movie.
PNN