Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand today demanded compensation to the family members of Indian prisoner Chamel Singh who was killed in a Pakistani jail.
"The family of Chamel Singh, who was beaten to death in Pakistan's Kot Lakhpat jail on January 15, should be given compensation on the pattern of Sarabjit Singh's family," Tara Chand told reporters here tonight.
He said that he has written a letter to the Union Home Minister to consider Chamel's family for the compensation and has also urged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to grant him the status of a martyr in the state.
Chamel Singh, a resident of Pargwal, a border village in Jammu's Akhnoor, was beaten to death in Pakistan's Kot Lakhpat jail on January 15 this year and his body was brought back here on March 13.
Singh, who was about to complete a five-year prison term for his alleged involvement in an espionage case, died in Lahore with reports saying that he was "mercilessly beaten" by Pakistani prison staff.
