Supreme Court Seeks Centre's Response On Plea Seeking Compensation For Child Sex Abuse Victims Under POCSO Act

The Supreme Court recently issued notice in a writ petition for the implementation of the child victim compensation scheme for victims of crime, including victims of sexual abuse, addressing their distinct psychological, emotional, educational and financial needs under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO).The notice has been issued to the Union, the Ministry of Law and Justice and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.Before a bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma, Senior Advocate Pragyan Pradip Sharma had submitted that pursuant to the now disposed of matter, In Re: Alarming rise in the numberof report child rape incidents, this Court's Registry drew up a scheme termed as "Compensation, Rehabilitation, Welfare and Education of POCSO victims, 2019". Sharma had pointed out that the Union was supposed to respond to the draft scheme to formalise it and implement it across the States. However, nothing happened after that. He added that various States are yet to compensate the child victims in line with the NALSA Scheme, 2018. He said, "In the Nipun Saxena matter, it was seen that the NALSA scheme does not take care of the child. So, as an interregnum measure, they applied the NALSA scheme to that and said the latest formal scheme would be implemented."Justice Nagarathna questioned if the scheme under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita or the Code of Criminal Procedure applies to child victims. To this, Sharma responded that no scheme whatsoever applies to the child victims. Justice Nagarathna also asked for the list of 12 child victims, who are also petitioners in this case, and questioned whether they have received compensation or not. "In all these cases, the amounts have been dispersed?" Justice Nagarathna asked.Sharma responded: "No, not a penny. That is the irony. Forget the NALSA Scheme. These are children of 8 years, 4 years of child rape. We have written several representations. Every State is the same...It's an issue that needs your lordships' interference. Some amount of monitoring to streamline this would be required."The Court issued notice to the first three Respondents. However, it did not issue notice to the States and UP impleaded by the petitioner.The Court will hear the matter on August 18.Case Details: JUST RIGHTS FOR CHILDREN ALLIANCE & ORS. v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS.|WP (C) No. 516/2025Click Here To Read Order

Supreme Court Seeks Centre's Response On Plea Seeking Compensation For Child Sex Abuse Victims Under POCSO Act

Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

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