The Madras High Court Bench here has contributed much to the development of criminal law in the last 10 years of its existence.
And its latest contribution has been the role it played in framing a scheme for paying compensation to victims of criminal offences and the award of Rs. 4 lakh to children of a couple murdered for gain 10 years ago.
Section 357 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, enabled payment of compensation to victims of crime by imposing fine on the convicts. But for decades together there was no provision to pay compensation to victims in cases that are either unsolved or end up in acquittal of the accused until Parliament introduced Section 357A in 2008.
Section 357A put the onus of paying the compensation, in deserving cases, on the State governments and mandated them to formulate individual schemes for compensating the victims. Though the legal provision came into force in December 2009, it could not be implemented in the State for nearly four years owing to a delay in framing the scheme.
The High Court Bench here took serious note of the delay on October 29, 2013, while setting aside the conviction and death sentence imposed by a trial court on two individuals on a charge of murdering a family of four, including two girl children, aged 10 and eight respectively, at Kailasaperi village in Tirunelveli district in 2007.
Authoring the judgement, Justice S. Nagamuthu said: “To sustain an orderly society, it is imperative that there is no crime committed against any individual; that there is no lapse in the investigation; that there is no shortcoming in trial; that there is no escape of any criminal and that there is no conviction of any innocent.”
“This is part of the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution... but the case on hand will illustrate and stand as a testimony for all times to come as to how the police have miserably failed to investigate the case properly and get the real culprits of the crime convicted so that this court could direct the convicts to pay compensation.”
“Our sympathy is always with the family of the victims. We are conscious that such sympathy expressed in words will not go to undo the horror suffered by the family members... We hope that at least monetary compensation would, to some extent, compensate the loss. But, we find that the Victim Compensation Scheme (VCS) has not been implemented in this State.”
Nevertheless, the Bench directed the government to pay a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh in that case by invoking its inherent power to pass such a direction and directed the State to frame the VCS within two months so that trial courts could begin recommending payment of compensation and the Legal Services Authority could determine the quantum to be paid.
Acting swiftly, as directed by the High Court Bench, the government passed an order on November 30, 2013, notifying the VCS. Subsequently, Rs.1.7 crore, besides Rs. 30 lakh kept as Reserved Fund, was allotted to the unit officers under the control of the Director General of Police for disbursing the compensation under the scheme.
“Awareness lacking”
“Now the scheme is in place and the funds have also been allotted but what is lacking is awareness among the people. I hope a judgement passed by our Bench on Wednesday granting a compensation of Rs. 4 lakh under the scheme to the victims of an unsolved 2004 murder for gain case in Virudhunagar district would lay the foundation for many such awards in the future,” says advocate R. Gandhi.
“Trial courts across the State should take a cue from the award passed by the High Court Bench and begin according the benefit of the scheme to hapless victims of crime,” he adds.
