The State government on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court that it is willing to expand on how a victim is defined under the Central government’s Manodhariya scheme for victims of rape and child abuse.
Introduced in October 2013, the scheme envisages providing between Rs. 2 lakh and Rs. 3 lakh to the victim, who would receive medical treatment, legal aid, counselling and help for rehabilitation from the state government.
Assistant Public Prosecutor Mankhuwar Deshmukh informed a division bench of Justices Naresh Patil and P.D. Naik that the government may also change the cut-off date for victims to claim compensation under the scheme in eight weeks from now. She also told the court that the state government is working on establishing trauma centres for counselling victims under the scheme.
The court was hearing two petitions, one of a four-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted in 2012 and had to undergo vaginal reconstruction surgery, and the other of a 15-year-old victim who was raped in 2013 and forced to marry her rapist who later abandoned her. In both cases, the victims haven’t received compensation from the state government.
Advocate Wesley Menezes, appearing for the victims, said the government has two polices: the Manodhariya scheme and the Victim Compensation Scheme, which was notified in April 2014.
He sought compensation for the victims under these policies and also informed the court about an amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure in 2009, according to which victims can be compensated.
The govt. may also change the cut-off date for victims to claim compensation under the scheme
