In the case of B v. State of Haryana & Ors, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered District Legal Service Authority, Gurgaon to pay the compensation amount to the Rape Victim who was a minor at the time of the incident.

The Compensation is granted under the Haryana Victims Compensation Scheme, 2013 to the victim whose case had not been forwarded to the DLSA by the trial court for grant of compensation.

The victim's father had filed a writ petition before the Hon’ble Court. The bench headed by Justice Vinod S. Bhardwaj observed that the incident took place in the year 2014 and the judgment was passed by the trial court later in the year 2015 when the 2013 Scheme was already in force. 

“The victim cannot be denied the benefit of a more benevolent scheme merely due to an act of oversight by the Court. The Act of Court should not prejudice her claim to just compensation. She cannot be now deprived of her compensation merely because the said aspect could not be brought up at the time when the trial was concluded,” said the court.

“The Court is the supreme guardian of her best interests as parens patriae. Thus, the obligation was cast on the Court to perfect her best interest” the court added.

The petitioner was represented by Adv. Sushil Bhardwaj and Additional Adv. General Vivek Chauhan represented State of Haryana, Senior Adv. Sumeet Goel with Adv. A.S. Balwan represented the DLSA

Case Analysis:

In this matter, the petitioner’s daughter (minor at that time) was subjected to aggravated penetrative sexual assault by the accused persons on August 11, 2014. The trial court convicted the accused persons under section 376 (Punishment for Rape) and section 6 (Punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO Act, 2012 and sentenced the accused to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for a period of 10 years and to pay a fine of Rs.5000/-.

However, the court did not forward the case to the District Legal Service Authority for a grant of compensation under the Haryana Victims Compensation Scheme of 2013 and also there was no compensation awarded to the victim under section 357A of CrPC.

On October 31, 2022, the Petitioner (Victim’s Father) filed an application for seeking a grant of compensation under the State Compensation Scheme 

However, the petitioner approached Punjab and Haryana High Court contending that the victim was entitled to a compensation of Rs. 4,50,000/- under the repealed Scheme of 2013 as the same was in force at the time of occurrence of the incident.

The Court held that the daughter of the petitioner fulfils all the requirements prescribed under the Scheme and considering the design objective of the scheme which is compensatory in nature for the wrong done to a person, directed the petitioner to file a fresh petition for the balance amount of Rs.50,000/- would only add to his miseries.

Accordingly, the court allowed the petition and directed the DLSA to a total compensation of Rs. 4, 50,000/- lakhs as per the Haryana Victim Compensation Scheme, 2013. As the amount of Rs.4,00,000/- was already disbursed, the court directed to release tof he remaining amount of Rs. 50,000/- in favour of the petitioner within a month.