JOIN USWomen's panel unhappy with board to help rape victims
The National Commission for Women on Saturday told the Supreme Court that it was disappointed for being ignored in the proposed national board that will consider compensation to victims of sexual assault.
In an affidavit, the NCW submitted before a bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra that it had formulated a “Scheme for Relief and Rehabilitation Victims of Rape 2005 ” and sent a revised proposal to the Ministry of Women and Child Development here in 2010.
“However, there were several deviations from the scheme originally proposed and the one shown in the expenditure finance committee memorandum circulated by the Ministry. As per the draft of the scheme, the National Board was to be constituted under the chairperson of NCW with member secretary of the NCW as member secretary of the board whereas as per the EFC memorandum, the NCW was substituted by ministry officials and none of the representatives of NCW was included in the National Board,” the affidavit filed by advocate Jyotika Kalra said.
The NCW made its stand clear in response to a PIL contending that the Centre had failed to set up Criminal Injuries Compensation Board to grant monetary relief to the sexual assault victims.
“The respondent got disappointed when it found that in the draft of EFC Memorandum on the scheme for “Financial Assistance and support Service to Victims of Rape: A scheme for restorative justice ” there were major deviations from the scheme originally proposed. This disappointment of the respondent was duly expressed by the chairperson,” it said.
In ‘Delhi Domestic Working Women’s Forum vs Union of India and others’, the apex court had in 1993, taking a serious note of the trauma faced by rape victims during lodging of complaints and also during the trial, said there was a need to unite and help the victims of sexual assault and get their lives back.
It also laid down broad parameters in assisting rape victims, including providing legal representation, legal assistance at police stations, legal assistance during trial, anonymity of the victim to be maintained, setting up of Criminal Injuries Compensation Board and Board to award the compensation after taking into account the pain, sufferings and shock of the victim.
The court had directed that the NCW had to engage itself in the exercise of drafting such a scheme by which the victim of violence get adequate remedy in securing justice.