Juvenile Justice Board to take step to enhance victim compensation scheme

Nine years on and the victim of a brutal gangrape in Noida is yet to receive the compensation, prompting the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) to take steps in order to enhance the victim compensation scheme.

Principal Magistrate Arul Varma frowned upon the fact that the victim, a 24-year-old MBA student, had still not received any compensation despite the "harrowing experience of narrating the incident before different authorities".

"She has suffered enough. Endured enough. It is time to put a quietus to her ordeal. It is indeed a sad state of affairs that the victim was forced to leave not only her city and State but also this country for the fear of reprisal.

"This Board is conscious of the fact that no amount of money can erase the trauma and grief that the victim has suffered or the dignity and confidence that was shattered," the magistrate said as he expressed hopes that "some compensation can go in alleviating a bit of the suffering that she had endured".

The court's remarks came when the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Neelam Narang and the victim's sister raised a grievance they had not received any compensation.

The judge also raised concerns about the high rate of rapes in Uttar Pradesh as it quoted the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

The Board expressed its displeasure at the failure to enhance the UP Victim Compensation Scheme despite orders of the Supreme Court. It said that the state is under a bounden duty to not only follow the diktat of the apex court of the country, but also to look after the well being of its subjects, and to take steps to alleviate their suffering.

"It is with a strong sense of disapproval this Board notes that so far the state of Uttar Pradesh has not given an iota of compensation that was due to the survivor. The state government seems to have flagrantly violated the SC's directions on February 11. We are in the year 2018, and yet no enhancement of compensation has been made in the UP Victim Compensation Scheme," the Board said.

The judge directed that the copy of this order be sent to the Principal Secretary, Department of Women and Child Development, Government of UP, to take requisite steps to enhance the compensation amounts in the Victim Compensation Scheme of the State in consonance with law.