Fifteen days after she was brutally murdered at her home near Perumbavoor, the family of Nimisha Thampi, the 22-year-old BBA student, has been granted an interim relief of ₹7.5 lakh under the Victim Compensation Scheme, 2017.
An interim inquiry report by A.M. Basheer, sub judge and secretary of the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) - Ernakulam on Tuesday recommended the interim relief as compensation to the kin of the deceased. The payment of the compensation, a first in the State, will be made as lump sum.
As per the report, the amount includes compensation for loss of life, medical expenses incurred, minimum sustenance amount required for rehabilitation including incidental charges like funeral expenses.
“This being an interim relief only, the dependants are bound to various provisions of the scheme and will be subject to final orders passed by the DLSA in this regard,” the report said.
During the inquiry, the DLSA found that Thampi and Salomi, parents of the victim, are dependants of the deceased under Section 2(j) of the Kerala Victim Compensation Scheme, 2017.
“The family is now under threat of various casualties such as imminent action from cooperative bank for attachment of property for having defaulted repayment of loan, her mother virtually collapsed and even now in an unconscious stage, both dependants are not going for any work, mother of Thampi suffered trauma of robbery, brother of victim is now undergoing treatment, they did not get any assistance from the government or NGO.... I have every reason to find the dependants are entitled for an interim relief,” the reprot said.
Since the accused was likely to receive severe punishment, there was no guarantee that he would be able to pay compensation, the report said.
