Delhi HC tells AAP govt, state legal services body to revisit compensation scheme for child abuse victims

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the AAP government and the legal services authority DSLSA to consider incorporating in the victim compensation scheme a provision for relocation of child victims of sexual abuse. [caption id=“attachment_2571166” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] The suggestion from a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar to the Delhi government and the Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA) came on an NGO’s plea to revisit the victim compensation scheme. The NGO, ‘Bachpan Bachao Andolan’, in its application has claimed that in several cases of child sexual abuse, relocation of the victims and their family would be warranted as they may face threats in future from the accused. Appearing for the organisation, senior advocate HS Phoolka and advocate Prabhsahay Kaur said the Delhi Victim Compensation Scheme (DVCS) has not addressed this issue. They said that though the DVCS provided compensation to the victims of rape and other sexual offences, it was silent on the monetary compensation or assistance for the relocation of the victim or a change of their residence. Besides suggesting revisiting of the DVCS, the court issued directions to the Delhi government on the shortage of public prosecutors (PP) and additional PPs in the trial courts in the national capital. The bench called for a status report from the Delhi government on steps taken to recruit more PPs and APPs and whether any promotions have been made since 2010. With these directions, the court listed the matter for further hearing on 11 December.