Interim compensation in child sexual abuse cases must be awarded within 60 days of filing chargesheet: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court on Thursday ordered that special courts and state legal services authorities must pay 25% of the maximum amount as interim compensation to child sexual abuse survivors within sixty days of filing of chargesheet against the accused.

The court was hearing an appeal by a 7-year-old girl survivor of sexual assault challenging the compensation granted to her by the trial court of Rs. 50,000.

Delhi High Court has opined that the special court failed to provide any reasoning for awarding the amount of Rs. 50,000 as compensation, even after finding that the accused person was guilty of serious offences including aggravated penetrative sexual assault under the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act).

“For the aforesaid reasons, the award of compensation of Rs.50,000 for mental trauma and bodily injury is highly insufficient and cannot be sustained and is set aside”, Justice Jasmeet Singh added.

The court also stated that the child needs maximum compensation and the POCSO act and directed the respondents to pay Rs. 10 lakhs within four weeks.

Justice Singh observed that for a survivor immediate assistance is paramount, and compensation is not a complete remedy; it must also ensure that the survivor's surroundings are made as normal as possible so that the survivor is not overwhelmed by feelings of guilt or remorse.

Justice Jasmeet Singh ordered that the Special Courts adjudicate compensatory proceedings, form a preliminary opinion and award interim compensation with the “primary goal of rehabilitation”, and that they shall award interim compensation in the amount of 25% of the maximum compensation, and after giving reasons, it can even exceed 25% of the maximum compensation as interim compensation.

“This interim compensation will be in addition to the interim compensation (amounting to 25% of the maximum amount) disbursed by the DSLSA/DLSA,” the court added.

Noting that the focus should be the survivor, compensatory proceedings revolve around the needs of the survivor, not on the guilt of the accused, the court opined that the pendency in child sexual abuse case might be getting created as the POCSO Rules state that compensation shall be given after the registration of the FIR but do not specify a time limit within which the compensation is to be disbursed. “As the Rules, only specify the starting point as FIR registration, this void allows for a delay in the payment of interim compensation”, noted the court.

The court added, “The POCSO is beneficial legislation aimed at ameliorating the suffering of children of sexual abuse. The DVC scheme contemplates 25% compensation, hence the special court must endeavor to award 25% of the compensation at the interim stage within 2 months of the filing of the charge sheet. The special court is within its rights to award compensation of more than 25 % at the interim stage. The POCSO is a special statute, passed to ameliorate the suffering of the survivors. Hence, the endeavor must be to award the maximum compensation possible.”

Justice Singh stated that the compensation as per the Delhi Victim Compensation (DVC) Scheme provides a maximum and a minimum, and opined that the statutes/schemes should not decide the “maximum”, the court has the power to scale up and scale down.

The single-judge bench added that these are the situations that require scaling up. For instance, the compensation for rape in the schedule has been provided as 7 lakhs maximum. The Court opined that “purposive interpretation and beneficial legislation requires the said sum of Rs. 7 lakhs to be considered as a minimum base while adjudicating compensation in POCSO cases. Hence for POCSO survivors of “rape,” it should be 7 +3.5=10.5 lakhs (50% of 7 lakhs being added in POCSO cases as per the DVC scheme) lakhs. The final compensation shall not be less than 10.5. lakhs.”

Additionally, the single-judge bench gave the following directions:

• The maximum compensation laid down in the schedule is to be considered the minimum, and the final compensation to survivors of child sexual abuse should be the maximum amount mentioned in the schedule.
• Within 8 weeks of the filing of the charge sheet, Special courts will form an opinion and will release 25% of the maximum awardable compensation for rehabilitation to child survivors of CSA for rehabilitation.
• Every POCSO FIR concurrently be sent to both Member Secretary DSLSA and Special Court.
• DSLSA/ DSLA will be also supplied with a copy of the charge sheet and based on the charge sheet, the DSLSA/DSLA immediately and not later than 60 days, release 25% to the survivors.
• Interim compensations awarded by the DSLSA/DLSA and Special Court are to be adjusted from the final compensation awarded by the Special court.

Case Title: X v. The State of NCT of Delhi & Anr.