<p class="title">"Life is priceless" and no court can value it in monetary terms, the Supreme Court observed on Wednesday while dealing with a matter related to the compensation scheme for victims of sexual assault and acid attacks.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The observation by a bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur came when a lawyer questioned the compensation scheme of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) as per which women victims of sexual assault or acid attacks get a minimum compensation of Rs 5 lakh and a maximum of Rs 10 lakh in case of loss of life.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"No court can value life. Life is priceless," the bench, which also comprised Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta, said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The counsel, who has filed a plea on the issue related to acid attacks victims, said compensation amount for such victims should be fixed for a particular category of offence and it should not vary.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The lawyer argued that if a woman was raped, the amount of compensation should not be varying as given in the NALSA scheme as per which the minimum has been fixed at Rs 4 lakh while the maximum is Rs 7 lakh.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She said cases of rape, gang rape and loss of life in such incidents cannot be categorised in percentage as far as the amount of compensation was concerned.</p>.<p class="bodytext">To this, the bench observed, "The Indian Penal Code (IPC) has made a difference between an offence of rape and gang rape".</p>.<p class="bodytext">The lawyer said the court should decide on having a fixed amount of compensation to such victims.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We have to look at some principles. It cannot be totally that it has to be a fixed amount," the bench said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The lawyer also argued that acid attack victims were not getting jobs and there was no redressal of the ordeal faced by them.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She also said that the sale of acids has not stopped in the market despite orders of the apex court.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The counsel appearing for NALSA said they have a special scheme for acid attack victims which include "one window facility" for them and also as to how they should be treated.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The bench asked Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand to look into the issues raised by the petitioner and posted the matter for hearing after four weeks.</p>
<p class="title">"Life is priceless" and no court can value it in monetary terms, the Supreme Court observed on Wednesday while dealing with a matter related to the compensation scheme for victims of sexual assault and acid attacks.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The observation by a bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur came when a lawyer questioned the compensation scheme of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) as per which women victims of sexual assault or acid attacks get a minimum compensation of Rs 5 lakh and a maximum of Rs 10 lakh in case of loss of life.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"No court can value life. Life is priceless," the bench, which also comprised Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta, said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The counsel, who has filed a plea on the issue related to acid attacks victims, said compensation amount for such victims should be fixed for a particular category of offence and it should not vary.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The lawyer argued that if a woman was raped, the amount of compensation should not be varying as given in the NALSA scheme as per which the minimum has been fixed at Rs 4 lakh while the maximum is Rs 7 lakh.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She said cases of rape, gang rape and loss of life in such incidents cannot be categorised in percentage as far as the amount of compensation was concerned.</p>.<p class="bodytext">To this, the bench observed, "The Indian Penal Code (IPC) has made a difference between an offence of rape and gang rape".</p>.<p class="bodytext">The lawyer said the court should decide on having a fixed amount of compensation to such victims.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We have to look at some principles. It cannot be totally that it has to be a fixed amount," the bench said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The lawyer also argued that acid attack victims were not getting jobs and there was no redressal of the ordeal faced by them.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She also said that the sale of acids has not stopped in the market despite orders of the apex court.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The counsel appearing for NALSA said they have a special scheme for acid attack victims which include "one window facility" for them and also as to how they should be treated.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The bench asked Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand to look into the issues raised by the petitioner and posted the matter for hearing after four weeks.</p>