BJP demands martyr status to Chamel Singh, Rs 10 lakh compensation for his family

BJP on Thursday raked up the issue of granting Rs 10 lakh and martyr status to Jammu resident Chamel Singh, who died in Pakistan's Kot Lakhpat Jail in 2013, saying repeated pleas to the government for compensation have fallen on deaf ears.

Zero Hour in the legislative assembly has become redundant as his repeated pleas to grant Rs 10 Lakh compensation and martyr status to Chamel Singh who died in Kot Lakhpat jail in Pakistan, as it has fallen on deaf ears, BJP MLA Sat Sharma alleged.

"I have made this pleas several times, but it seems that the zero hour has become redundant, I have been demanding from the government to grant Rs 10 Lakh and martyr status to Chamel Singh, but nothing has been done so far," Sharma said during Zero hour in the legislative assembly today.

According to his family, Chamel Singh, a resident of Akhnoor in Jammu, had gone missing in 2008 while working in his fields near the International Border. 

He was arrested in Pakistan on charges of espionage and was sentenced for five years of imprisonment.

As he was about to complete his term of imprisonment, he died in Kot Lakpat jail in Pakistan, amid reports that he was "mercilessly beaten", by prison staff two days before his death.

Singh's body was handed over to the Indian authorities after more than two months of his death.