Compensation given to 2008 Kandhamal communal riot victims was not adequate: SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court, Tuesday, said that the compensation given to the victims of the 2008 communal riots was not adequate.

The apex court directed the Odisha government to give additional compensation to the riot victims.

The ethno-communal riot in Odisha's Kandhamal district had left at least 38 people dead.

The riots broke out following the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati and four of his associates.

More than 25,000 Christians had fled their homes in Kandhamal after their houses were attacked by rampaging mobs, who held Christians responsible for the murders.

The police, however, blamed the murders on the Maoists.