Mumbai: The State government on Tuesday informed the Bombay High Court that it does not have enough funds to extend the Manodhairya scheme to rape and sexual assault victims with retrospective effect.
A Division Bench of Justices Ranjit More and Shalini Phansalkar Joshi was hearing a petition filed by the father of a minor rape victim, seeking retrospective implementation of the Manodhairya scheme, under which a compensation of ₹3 lakh is provided to rape and acid attack victims. The scheme was introduced in October 2013. The State also framed the Victim Compensation Scheme under the Code of Criminal Procedure, which came into force in April 2014.
The father contended that benefits under the schemes were wrongly denied to the victims of sexual offences on the ground that the incidents had occurred prior to the cut-off dates. According to the petitioner, his daughter was 13 years old when she was raped several times between July 2012 and January 2013, and the police, instead of taking action against the accused, forced her to marry him.
Assistant public prosecutor Mankhuwar Deshmukh told the court that the State does not have funds to extend the scheme with retrospective effect. The court then told her to consider the Bombay HC’s verdict in the case of Aarti Thakur, an acid attack victim, and the Supreme Court’s Laxmi judgement, and extend funds to the victims.
Ms. Deshmukh, however, informed the court that in both the cases the aggrieved were compensated under the Victim Compensation Scheme in which the funds come from the Centre and not the State. The Bench said, the State is obligated to help these victims and is not doing them any favour or charity. The court told Ms. Deshmukh to consult the Secretary of Women and Child Development Department and adjourned the matter to January 24.
