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SC Approves of Compensation Proposed by NALSA for Women Who Are Sexual Assault Victims

The Supreme Court, on September 5, Wednesday approved National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) compensation scheme for women victims and survivors of sexual assault and other unnatural sexual assault crimes. There will be a minimum compensation of Rs 4 lakh for such victims, which will get extended to minor victims also until a government scheme in line with the POCSO Act is framed. This compensation will become operational from October 2.
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The discussion for granting compensation of a sum of Rs. 4 lakhs as suggested by the NALSA to the minor Women Victims of sexual assault, finally got approval from the Supreme Court on Wednesday 5th, 2018. NALSA is the National Legal Services Authority, it runs a scheme which provides with the compensation to the victims/ sexual assault survivors and to the victims of other unnatural sexual assault crimes in 2018. 

The criterion of giving compensation differs on the gravity of the offence like for the loss of life, the compensation provided by NALSA compensation scheme is minimum Rs. 5 Lakhs and it can extend up to the limit of Rs. 10 lakhs. In cases of rape, minimum compensation is Rs. 4 lakhs and it may extend up to Rs. 7 lakhs. Whereas, in the cases of gang rape, it is Rs. 5 lakhs minimum and may extend to a limit of Rs. 10 lakhs, and a minimum of Rs. 4 lakhs to 5 Lakhs for unnatural sexual assault victims.

The need of such scheme arose when in the course of earlier hearings, the court felt that there should be a proper channel through which payment of compensation could be made and that too with proper rules and format.

The Order by the Apex Court in the recent matter is as follows:

The matter was placed before the bench of Justice Madan B Lokur, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice S  Abdul Nazeer. 
The Court accepted all the suggestions that were forwarded by Indira Jaising (amicus curiae). 
As per the orders, the suggested guidelines of the scheme will come into force from the 2nd October 2018.
The Court has also directed all the High Courts to make the wide publicity of the orders including the measures such as Doordarshan and A.I.R. India.

More to this, the issue of granting compensation arose after a PIL that was filed after the Nirbhaya Case that sought compensation for the victims of Sexual Assault. The figures and data of the cases registered and the people actually getting compensation were also produced in the court of law. 

There was an immense need for such a scheme that could provide with the interim solution through the way of compensation to the victims of sexual assault, irrespective of their gender.

Thus, the Supreme Court approved the suggestions of the NALSA (National Legal Service Authority) for granting compensation to the women victims/ sexual assault survivors. The minimum compensation amount should not be less than Rs. 4 lakhs and it also includes the minor victims until any government scheme is framed in accordance with the POCSO (Protection of Children From Sexual Offences) Act

 

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Reviewed by:
Jyoti Yadav
Published on 06-Sep-18
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