Seven states laggard on giving relief to rape, acid attack victims

Seven states are yet to finalise a scheme for compensation of victims of crime, including violence against women, nearly four years after the Centre notified the provision for providing relief by amending the CrPC.

After the notification of a new section in the CrPC in December 2009, the Union Home Ministry had initiated the process of making states notify the Victim Compensation Scheme in September 2010 but only four states came up with a scheme within one year. Sikkim was the first to launch  a scheme in June 2011, while Karnataka notified it in February last year.

A senior Home Ministry official said the seven states yet to fall in line are Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Nagaland and Uttarakhand. The Ministry had conducted seven co-ordination meetings through video conferencing with Home Secretaries of these states since May 2011. Two of the meetings were held in February and March this year but six months hence, the notifications are yet to come, the official said.

“The ministry is overseeing the notification and implementation of Victim Compensation Scheme in states and Union Territories,” the official said.

As of now, 17 states and seven Union Territories have notified the scheme while four are on the verge of doing it. The Ministry has received the draft notifications from Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Meghalaya.

The official said the ministry would be asking the seven remaining states to speed up the process. The provision came into being after the CrPC was amended by adding a new Section 357A which dealt with the modalities for compensating victims of crime.

According to an analysis of the notifications issued, Goa has fixed the maximum compensation for rape at Rs ten lakh, followed by seven Union Territories at Rs 3 lakh.

Acid attacks

The states which have already come up with the scheme may have to modify them as the Centre has stipulated that acid attack victims should be paid a compensation of at least Rs 3 lakh on a direction from the Supreme Court, sources said.

In Union Territories, an acid attack victim whose face was disfigured would get up to
Rs 3 lakh as compensation and for other injuries Rs 50,000. Among the states, which have notified the scheme, Rajasthan pays a compensation of Rs two lakh and Assam Rs 1.75 lakh, while West Bengal has notified a paltry Rs 20,000 for acid attack victims.