SC seeks Centre’s reply on compensating 10-year-old rape victim

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 18

A day after a 10-year-old rape survivor from Chandigarh delivered a baby, the Supreme Court issued notices to the Centre and the Chandigarh Administration on a petition seeking a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for her.

The notices were issued on a plea by senior counsel Indira Jaising, who was appointed as amicus curiae by the top court on March 27, 2015, and asked her to file a brief detailing the position of law and suggestions on the issue of non-payment of victim compensation in a timely manner.

“A 10-year-old mother cannot look after the child. Nothing has been paid to her so far,” Jaising told a Bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur, which also asked National Legal Services Authority and the Chandigarh District Legal Services Authority to respond to her plea.

As she said the authorities insisted that compensation would be given only after filing of a chargesheet in the case, the Bench said: “That is no answer ... What they say is absurd.”

Jaising pointed out that another Bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra on Thursday ordered the Bihar Government to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to a 35-year-old HIV+ve rape survivor whose unwanted pregnancy could not be terminated due to inordinate delay in the decision making process.

“It is just and necessary that the victim girl is rehabilitated with change of identity, her education be completed, and she is rehabilitated and be integrated with the society for which adequate compensation is required to achieve this aim,” read the plea filed by Jaising.

She said the compensation given to the rape victim should be for all means including, but not restricted to, her education, post therapeutic care, vocation and rehabilitation.

“It is therefore necessary that the girl child be provided with an amount of Rs 10 lakh, of which Rs 3 lakh may be directed to be deposited forthwith; whereas the balance amount of Rs 7 lakh may be deposited in an interest-bearing fixed deposit amount that may be utilised for the welfare of the minor girl,” it further read.

“Although in rape cases, the Union Territory of Chandigarh provides for a compensatory amount of Rs 3 lakh towards the medical expenses, therapeutic care, rehabilitation and post-surgical treatment, in the instant case, a paltry amount of Rs. 10,000 has been given to the family of the minor rape survivor,” read the plea.

In her plea, Jaising said the minor’s parents wanted to give the child away in adoption “so that they do not live with the trauma of rape of their ten-year-old daughter”.

She demanded a fast track trial under POCSO on a priority basis and a competent support person for her during the trial.

Jaising also requested the court to ensure that identity of the child and her parents was protected from all publication and that there was no media reporting of the trial.

The top court had on July 28 dismissed the plea for permission for terminating the 32-week-old pregnancy of the 10-year-old rape survivor, after a medical board of doctors from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, opined against it. The minor had become pregnant after being allegedly raped by her uncle.

Under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, a woman is not permitted to abort her foetus after the pregnancy crosses 20 weeks, unless the mother’s life is at risk. It’s for this reason that often pregnant women move the top court for permission to terminate pregnancy that has crossed 20 weeks.