State yet to put plan in place as per Criminal Procedure Code.
Crime victims are a sorry lot as the state government has failed to prepare a scheme for providing them compensation under Criminal Procedure Code. Section 357 (A) of the Code makes it mandatory for the government to compensate for crime victims notwithstanding arrest of culprits.
Many other states and Union territories, including Delhi, Bihar, Meghalaya, Haryana, Karnataka as well as Jammu and Kashmir have such compensation schemes in place.
In Maharashtra, the women and child welfare department had prepared the scheme way back in 2011 but it is pending for approval of the finance department.
As a result, victims of various crimes, especially rape and acid attack, are waiting for the much-needed monetary relief.
In the case of rape and murder of Wipro BPO employee Jyoti Kumari, additional sessions judge awarded death penalty to two accused but did not order compensation for the victim’s family.
Even in the case of Sandesh Abhang who had stabbed a woman 21 times, severed four fingers of one hand and chopped off the other wrist before raping her pregnant
granddaughter-in-law, even stabbing her 19 times and abandoning her believing to be dead, Abhang was awarded the capital punishment but no compensation was ordered.
Statistics released by National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) in its annual report ‘Crimes in India’ underlines the need for compensation scheme in Maharashtra.
According to NCRB report, 1,701 rape cases were registered in Maharashtra in 2011. As per the city police annual data, a total of 85 rape cases were registered with the city police in 2012. Most of these victims could have got compensation had the state’s compensation scheme been in place.
Bihar had prepared its compensation scheme in 2011, Meghalaya in February 2012, Goa in November 2012, Haryana in February, 2013 while Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and Delhi in April this year.
According to lawyers, the Pune courts convict accused in around five to six rape cases per year. And in most cases, no compensation is granted to the victim.
Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority (MSLSA) official said, “We are helpless.
Victims send us applications for compensation but all we can do is to forward them to the Mantralaya. We cannot award compensation because the compensation scheme is not in place yet.”
Former high court judge BG Kolse-Patil said, “During my tenure as high court judge, I used to award compensation to rape victims and, if the victim was murdered, even to their family members. Now I do not understand why the use of legal provision has reduced and why lawyers are not seeking compensation? Money cannot restore the victim’s pride but it sure helps in rehabilitation.”
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