A year after Bawana fire, family of victim waits for compensation wrongly given to another

Woman was identified a month after the incident as she was working at the factory without her family’s knowledge

It is almost a year since 17 people were killed in a massive fire that broke out at a firecracker factory in Bawana on January 20. However, one family is still running from pillar to post for compensation of ₹5 lakh announced by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Bank account seized

The compensation was wrongly given to another family, admitted Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Purva Garg, adding that the bank account of the person was seized earlier this month.

Reema (23), a resident of Metro Vihar’s JJ Colony, remained unidentified for over a month after the incident — the only unidentified person in what can be called the biggest fire tragedy in Delhi after the Uphaar Cinema fire.

Reema’s brother Harcharan (28), from Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur and a resident of Metro Vihar who also works in a factory in Bawana, explained that his sister remained unidentified for weeks and how the family has been struggling to get compensation.

Harcharan said Reema had been working in such factories since the age of 15. However, a few months before the incident, they sent her to her elder brother’s house in Haryana, from where she fled.

“All the family members were going back to our village in Madhya Pradesh. Only our younger brother was staying back in Delhi. We did not want her to be alone here so we asked her to stay with our elder brother in Haryana. She, however, left his house without telling anyone. We also reported her missing in a police station,” Harcharan said.

When the fire broke out killing 17 people, including Reema and her close friend Sonam, the family had no idea that she was one of the victims.

Friend kept secret

“Sonam and Reema always worked together. When she went missing, we asked Sonam about her whereabouts but she never told us that Reema was working in Bawana with her,” Harcharan said.

On February 25, the family were informed that Reema was killed in the factory fire.

He said the Crime Branch officers who were investigating the case showed Reema’s photograph to several people, including Sonam’s family. “Sonam’s younger sister Sanjana identified her. Then the officers came to us with the picture. We identified her with the help of the tattoo on her right arm and a mark on her forehead,” Harcharan said.

The police then matched Reema’s DNA with that of her mother Udiya Devi, and established that the two were indeed related. The Forensic Science Laboratory report dated July 27 concluded that “Udiya Devi is the biological mother of the deceased”. In September, the office of Crime Branch also released a letter stating the same.

Harcharan said he submitted all the documents at the SDM’s office, which was tasked with releasing the compensation.

“There was a lot of rush at the time of giving compensation to all the grieving families and there was a mistake in the list given to my office. With respect to that, an inquiry is on and we have been able to identify the person who was wrongly been given the compensation. His account has been seized and recovery process initiated,” said Ms. Garg.

“The incident happened in January and the applicant came to our office much later,” she added.