September 5, 2018

In a landmark decision, on Wednesday the Supreme Court approved National Legal Services Authority’s compensation scheme for women victims/ survivors of sexual assault/other crimes-2018 as per which the minimum compensation should be ₹four lakh & said it'll also extend to minor victims till a govt scheme in accordance with POCSO is framed.

This decision was taken in the PIL filed after the Nirbhaya case, seeking immediate compensation for victims of sexual assault. The Judges, state can order higher compensation but it can't be lesser that what has been suggested by NALSA

A full bench comprising of Justices Madan B Lokur, Deepak Gupta & S Abdul Nazeer while pronouncing orders in Nipun Saxena matter after accepting all suggestions put forwarded by amicus curiae Indira Jaising said that the scheme & guidelines should be made operational from 2nd October.

On suggestion from Jaising, the bench directed all High Courts to give wide publicity to the order including on Doordarshan & AIR

As per the order, the Judges will have inherent powers to order compensation to victims of sexual assault along with punishment to the convict(s).

“The trial court may in appropriate cases on its own order interim compensation for immediate need of the child. The payment of compensation will be gender neutral. NALSA compensation scheme may function as a guideline until rules are framed by the central government. Scheme and guidelines to be operational from October 2. There'll be no upper limit for payment of compensation”, said the order

NALSA's Recommendations

As per the National Legal Services Authority’s compensation scheme for women victims/ survivors of sexual assault/other crimes-2018, in case of loss of life NALSA scheme recommended minimum compensation ₹5 lakh, upper limit ₹10 lakh. For gang rape minimum ₹5 lakh, upper limit ₹10 lakh, For rape minimum compensation ₹4lakh upper limit ₹7 lakh, For unnatural sexual assault minimum ₹4lakh & upper limit ₹5 lakh

During an earlier hearing, the Court felt such a scheme was essential as there was no rules & format for payment for compensation

NALSA had also stated that only 5 to 10% of rape & other types of sexual assault victims were getting compensation under the Nirbhaya & other such schemes

Shocking state of affairs

While referring to the figures of Andhra Pradesh, Surinder S. Rathi, Director of NALSA had apprised the bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta that out of 901 cases lodged last year, only 1 victim has received compensation.

According to the NALSA's data, out of 1,028 cases registered in 2017 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in the state, only 11 victims got compensated.

Rajasthan: 3,305 FIRs registered in 2017 & only 140 victims received compensation under these schemes.

Bihar: 1,199 FIRs of sexual assaults lodged in 2017 but only 82 victims were compensated.

Surinder S. Rathi said that a detailed report regarding other states will be filed soon.

During the hearing, Senior Adv. Indira Jaising, who's assisting the court as an amicus curiae, referred to the victim compensation scheme proposed by the NALSA for the victims of sexual assaults & said they wanted to have 2 vital additions in the scheme, the funds for which was earlier shared with the Centre.

Jaising had said the Police must mandatorily inform the legal services authority of the state govt about the lodging of FIRs in sexual assault cases so that the process of giving compensation to the victim can be expedited.

Read the Scheme Here

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NALSA Director, Surinder S Rathi, on Victim Compensation Scheme, 2018, Read Text, Watch the Video here

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