Sexual assault case: Delhi court grants Rs 2 lakh interim compensation to 12-year-old girl

A Delhi court granted on Friday an interim compensation of Rs 2 lakh to a 12-year-old girl, who is fighting for her life at a hospital after being sexually assaulted by a 33-year-old man.

Additional Sessions Judge Vrinda Kumari directed the secretary of the West District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), Tis Hazari Courts, to release the amount to the minor girl considering her physical and mental health and the expenditure likely to be incurred on her medical treatment.

The girl, who was assaulted on August 4, is in a critical condition at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

The court said it would be appropriate if interim compensation of Rs 2 lakh was granted to the girl, keeping in view the gravity of offence, severity of physical harm or injuries and the expenditure likely to be incurred on her medical treatment for physical and mental health.

The DLSA and the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) had moved an application before the court seeking compensation for the minor girl's family for her rehabilitation, alleviation of her sufferings and appropriate educational development.

A source from the DLSA said that the amount has been released and credited into the girl's bank account on Friday.

During the hearing, the court was informed that the girl had suffered multiple injuries on her body and incarcerations on her head/forehead and had undergone surgery at AIIMS here.

Sources at AIIMS said the girl would undergo another surgery.

On Tuesday, the girl was sexually assaulted at her west Delhi home by 33-year-old Krishan, who also hit her on the face and head with a sharp object.

Her rectum and intestines were injured severely by some kind of impalement for which she needed immediate intervention and that is why she was operated upon as soon as she reached the hospital, a senior doctor at the AIIMS had said on Thursday.

On Thursday, the Delhi Police arrested Krishan.

The police has registered an FIR under section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code and section 8 (sexual assault) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

The offences entail a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.