Will release relief for 20 rape victims in 2 weeks: Centre to Supreme Court

UT legal services authority says pending compensation stands at Rs 1.29 crore

The Centre will release the pending compensation — which according to the state legal services authority (SLSA) stands at Rs 1.29 crore — to 20 rape victims in the UT within two weeks.

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A Supreme Court (SC) bench comprising justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta, before whom the UT SLSA on Friday submitted the status report concerning the 10-year-old’s rape, said the “counsel for Union of India says the victim compensation amount will be released to the SLSA within two weeks”, states the detailed judgment that came out on Sunday.

SLSA member secretary Mahavir Singh said he pointed out in the status report that there was shortage of funds under the UT’s Victim Assistance Scheme, 2012, which comes under the Consolidated Fund of India.

“Even though we received ₹33 lakh after I wrote a letter to the UT home secretary, we do not have enough money to pay relief to 20 rape victims,” he said, adding that the maximum compensation that can be paid to them — as mentioned in the affidavit before the apex court — is Rs 1.29 crore.

‘Speed up DNA testing in 10-yr-old’s rape’

The apex court has also asked the forensic laboratory to expedite the DNA testing in the 10-year-old’s rape case.

This comes after the DNA sample of the accused uncle mismatched with that of the newborn girl. Police have collected his samples again besides that of his younger brother, who was later arrested in the case.

“... there is another accused who has been arrested and his DNA sample has been taken,” said the court, adding that the trial court would pass appropriate orders as and when the DNA results were received.

The matter will now come up for hearing in the SC on October 12.