The Centre has challenged the ruling of a court in Amritsar directing it and the Punjab government to pay Rs 4 lakh as compensation to each of the 40 people arrested by the Army and the police from the Golden Temple complex during Operation Blue Star in 1984, Hindustan Times reported.

These people were allegedly kept in illegal detention in Amritsar and then moved to a jail in Jodhpur in Rajasthan after the end of the military operation. They moved court between 1990 and 1992. The Amritsar district and session court last year ruled that they were “entitled to interest on the compensation amount at the rate of 6% per annum” from the date the lawsuits were filed.

In its petition to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Centre challenged the Amritsar court’s right to hear these petitions, and accused the plaintiffs of joining militants during Operation Blue Star, reported The Indian Express.

The Centre urged the court to give it an opportunity to present its arguments, and reasoned that the Army had stepped in on the civil administration’s request. Justice Ajay Tewari granted the government’s request and set the hearing for July 2.

On June 6, 1984, more than 1,000 people were killed during a raid on the Sikhism’s holiest shrine to clamp down on extremist operations led by Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale.

The security forces arrested 379 Sikhs from the premises of Golden Temple and adjoining inns. The police registered First Information Reports against 365 first-time offenders on June 10, 1984, and handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation. A second First Information Report was registered four days later.