Rape victim compensation: HC finds Rs 2 lakh too less
Finding the Rs-2-lakh compensation agreed to be paid to a Hoshiarpur rape victim and unwed mother inadequate, the Punjab and Haryana high court on Saturday directed the Punjab government to consider paying her another Rs 1 lakh.
Finding the Rs-2-lakh compensation agreed to be paid to a Hoshiarpur rape victim and unwed mother inadequate, the Punjab and Haryana high court on Saturday directed the Punjab government to consider paying her another Rs 1 lakh.
The high court told the Punjab government to consider paying the enhanced sum under the rape-victim compensation policy in parity with Haryana and Chandigarh. The directions came from justice Rajiv Narain Raina, based on the plaint of a woman, 29, disowned by her family because she is an unwed mother of girl as a result of repeated rape.
The high court has also issued directions, after consent from the Punjab government, to transfer the proceedings of the first-information report (FIR) registered on August 13, 2012, at Mahilpur police station in Hoshiarpur district to Chandigarh, along with proclaimed offender proceedings against the alleged accused. The Chandigarh senior superintendent of police (SSP) has been directed specifically to look into the FIR and place the proclaimed offender proceedings against the accused before the Chandigarh sessions judge.
The high court has also ordered for continuing the security provided to the victim and her daughter, and granting her liberty to move out of Nari Niketan in Sector 26, Chandigarh, for rehabilitation. The issue of red corner notice against the accused is under consideration before the Punjab government, it was submitted in the high court. Earlier, the state government had submitted that the offender had reportedly gone abroad to evade the process of law.
When the victim was left with no hope for justice from various government authorities, she had approached the high court finally and the Punjab Legal Services Authority (PLSA) had provided her with counsel. Appearing for the victim, advocate Anil Malhotra had sought the registration of a criminal case against the accused and its transfer to an independent agency outside Punjab.
Malhotra had also argued before the court for police protection to the victim and her child, DNA test for ascertaining the child's paternity, and rehabilitative aid and compensation from the Punjab government for the victim.
The child was born to the victim on November 29, 2011. It was only on the directions of the high court that an FIR about rape and criminal intimidation was registered ultimately in August 2012 at Mahilpur in Hoshiarpur district.