1

Chief Justice's Court

AFR

Case :- PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION (PIL) No. - 4579 of 2015

Petitioner :- Guriya Swayam Sevi Sansthan Thru' Its President
Respondent :- Union Of India Thru' Principal Secy. & 5 Others
Counsel for Petitioner :- Raj Kumar
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,A.S.G.I./2015/0033,Pradeep Singh
Sisodia,Ram Dular
Hon'ble Dr. Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud,Chief Justice
Hon'ble Manoj Kumar Gupta,J.
This writ petition has been filed in the public interest by an
organization which is active in the fight against human trafficking,
especially forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation of minor girls
and children in the State of Uttar Pradesh. The relief which has been
sought is a mandamus for the enforcement of Rule 7 (4) of the Protection
of Children from Sexual Offences Rules 2012 1 by constituting a Victims
Compensation Fund under Section 357-A of the Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973.
Rule 7 (4) of the Rules reads as follows:
7. Compensation (1) The Special Court may, in
appropriate cases, on its own or on an application filed by or on
behalf of the child, pass an order for interim compensation to
meet the immediate needs of the child for relief or
rehabilitation at any stage after registration of the First
Information Report. Such interim compensation paid to the
child shall be adjusted against the final compensation, if any.
(2) The Special Court may, on its own or on an application filed
by or on behalf of the victim, recommend the award of
compensation where the accused is convicted, or where the
case ends in acquittal or discharge, or the accused is not traced
1 Rules.

or identified, and in the opinion of the Special Court the child

has suffered loss or injury as a result of that offence.
(3) Where the Special Court, under sub-section (8) of Section
33 of the Act read with sub-sections (2) and (3) of Section
357A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, makes a direction for
the award of compensation to the victim, it shall take into
account all relevant factors relating to the loss or injury caused
to the victim, including the following:(i)

type of abuse, gravity of the offence and the

severity of the mental or physical harm or injury

suffered by the child;
(ii)

the expenditure incurred or likely to be incurred

on his medical treatment for physical and/or mental

health;
(iii)

loss of educational opportunity as a consequence

of the offence, including absence from school due to

mental trauma, bodily injury, medical treatment,
investigation and trial of the offence, or any other
reason;
(iv)

loss of employment as a result of the offence,

including absence from place of employment due to

mental trauma, bodily injury, medical treatment,
investigation and trial of the offences, or any other
reason;
(v)

the relationship of the child to the offender, if

any;
(vi)

whether the abuse was a single isolated incidence

or whether the abuse took place over a period of time;

(vii)

whether the child became pregnant as a result of

the offence;
(viii) whether

the

child

contracted

sexually

transmitted disease (STD) as a result of the offence;

(ix)

whether

the

child

contracted

Human

Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) as a result of the

offence;
(x)

any disability suffered by the child as a result of

the offence;
(xi)

financial condition of the child against whom the

offence has been committed so as to determine his need

for rehabilitation;
(xii)

any other factor that the Special Court may

consider to be relevant.
(4)

The compensation awarded by the Special Court is to be

paid by the State Government from the Victims Compensation

Fund or other scheme or fund established by it for the purposes
of compensating and rehabilitating victims under section 357A
of the Code of Criminal Procedure or any other laws for the
time being in force, or, where such fund or scheme does not
exist, by the State Government.

In response to the direction of the Court, the Principal Secretary

(Home) filed a counter affidavit stating that in implementation of the
provisions of Rule 7(4), the State Government had notified a Victims
Compensation Fund and the Governor had notified the Uttar Pradesh Rani
Laxmibai Mahila Samman Kosh Niyamawali, 2015 on 6 February 2015.
Accordingly, a Government Order was issued on 16 April 2015 to all the
District Magistrates, the Senior Superintendents of Police and
Superintendents of Police for the implementation of Rule 7(4). It was
envisaged that the review of offences/compensation in different districts
be conducted in the monthly meeting of the District Monitoring

Committees together with the District Judge. The State Government has
allocated a budget of Rs.2 crores by a Government Order dated 1 April
2015 for the financial year 2015-16. The fund is to be operated by the
Secretary of the State Legal Services Authority and a decision was taken
to transfer the fund at a meeting held on 16 April 2015 by the Principal
Secretary (Home).
When the petition came up before this Court for further hearing on
4 May 2015, this Court observed that there was a glaring lapse in defining
the offences covered by the Victims Compensation Fund. This was
because only offences under Sections 4, 6 and 14 of the Protection of
Children from Sexual Offences Act 20122 were covered. Offences of
sexual assault under Section 7 (punishable under Section 8), of aggravated
sexual assault under Section 9 (punishable under Section 10) and of
sexual harassment under Section 11 (punishable under Section 12) were
not covered by the Victims Compensation Fund. By an order dated 4 May
2015, we observed whether this was an inadvertent mistake or otherwise,
this should be rectified at the earliest. The State Government was directed
to inform the Court of the remedial steps which have been taken to rectify
this glaring omission so as to bring the offences under Sections 7, 9 and
11 of the Act within the purview of the Victims Compensation Fund.
In pursuance of the direction which was issued by the Court, the
Principal Secretary (Home) has filed an affidavit stating that in order to
bring all six Sections, namely Sections 4, 6, 7, 9, 11 and 14 of the POSCO
Act, 2012 within the purview of the U.P. Victims Compensation Scheme
2 Act

2014, it has been decided to place the matter before the Cabinet for
approval. The Court has been informed that the matter is under process
and the entire exercise would be completed shortly. In the meantime, the
budgetary allocation of Rs.2 crores has already been transferred to the
Secretary of the U.P. State Legal Services Authority, Lucknow. A direction
has also been issued to all the District Magistrates as well as the Senior
Superintendents of Police/Superintendents of Police on 18 May 2015 for
implementing and monitoring the beneficial provisions contained in the
scheme so as to provide compensation to the victims from the allocated
fund.
The State Government has responded to the direction of this Court
by rectifying the omission of the offences under Sections 7, 9 and 11 of
the Act from the purview of the fund. The matter has already been
forwarded to the Cabinet and the entire process is expected to be
completed shortly. The direction which was issued by the Court on 4 May
2015 shall now be operative as the final decision in these proceedings.
There is absolutely no reason or justification to exclude offences under
Sections 7, 9 and 11 from the purview of the fund in addition to the
provisions of Sections 4, 6 and 14. All the victims of these offences would
be in need of beneficial rehabilitation. The setting up of the fund is an
important instrument of ensuring rehabilitative relief to the victims of
these offences.
Consequently, the State Government shall now abide by the
statement and complete the exercise within a period of two months from
today. The fund has been placed under the control of the Secretary of the

State Legal Services Authority, Lucknow. The Registrar General shall

forward a copy of this order to the Secretary of the State Legal Services
Authority expeditiously so that due and proper steps can be taken for
compliance and for ensuring that the modalities for the disbursement of
compensation to child victims are duly formulated in accordance with the
scheme and necessary remedial steps are taken for the disbursement of
compensation as awarded. In the event that in future it becomes necessary
to increase the budgetary allocation, the Secretary of the State Legal
Services Authority shall route such a request through the Registrar
General to the State Government for necessary steps as may be deemed
appropriate.
However, should it become necessary for the petitioner to file
further proceedings, in the light of the experience gained, it is needless to
add that it would be open to the petitioner to move this Court in
appropriate proceedings. The petitioner has rendered commendable
assistance to the Court in these proceedings by highlighting an important
public issue in the public interest petition for which the Court would
record its appreciation.
The petition is, accordingly, disposed of. There shall be no order as
to costs.
Order Date :- 26.5.2015
RK

(Dr.D.Y.Chandrachud,C.J.)

(M.K. Gupta,J.)