The Delhi High Court has held that a child born out of rape is clearly a victim of the offence and entitled to compensation.
“We find that there is a complete vacuum in the consideration of compensation so far as the sexual offence resulting in the birth of a child is concerned. Such a child is clearly a victim of the act of the offender and entitled to compensation independent of the amount of compensation paid to his/her mother. Such award would require to include amount towards his/her maintenance and support,” a Bench of Justices R.K. Gauba and Gita Mittal held in its 72-page judgment.
The Bench said so while dismissing an appeal against conviction of a man sentenced to life for raping his step-daughter. The girl gave birth to a child in 2014.
Going by POCSO
The court noted that provisions of POCSO also refer to the Victim Compensation Fund and the Victim Compensation Scheme prepared and enforced by the Central government in terms of Section 357A of the CrPC.
“But, these guidelines are general in nature and do not assist much in quantifying the amount of compensation. The POCSO rules make no provision for a child born out of the sexual violence or the offence suffered by the child, who is not only a dependant of the victim, but the direct victim of the offence,” said the Bench.
The facts of the case and its handling by the trial court led the Bench to remark that “the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi is yet to establish the Victim Compensation Fund to fulfil the obligations in terms of its own scheme [Delhi Scheme of 2011]; this, in spite of the nudge given by this court through a series of orders...”
In the instant case, the victim, a girl aged 14, was raped by her stepfather, a driver. The victim’s mother was working as a maid at the house of a political scientist and a professor who, sometime in 2013, noticed her distressed over her daughter’s bloating belly.
They got an ultrasound done on the girl and found out that she was pregnant and past the stage where the foetus could be aborted. It was then that the girl informed that the stepfather was responsible for the pregnancy and narrated events going back to the time when she was 11. The employer of the victim’s mother convinced her to report the matter to the police and also arranged for the girl’s counselling with an NGO. A child was born to the victim on February 10, 2014, and DNA profiling confirmed the accused to be the biological father.
Scheme
The High Court reduced the amount of compensation to the victim from Rs. 15 lakh awarded by the trial court to Rs. 7.5 lakh, saying the higher amount went against the 2011 compensation scheme formulated by the Delhi government. It also faulted the trial court by giving a go-by to the guidelines for maintaining confidentiality of the rape victim.
