[POCSO Act] Survivors must be paid interim compensation within 60 days of chargesheet, no upper limit on amount: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court on Thursday ordered that in cases of child sexual abuse (CSA), special courts under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) should provide interim compensation to the survivor within 60 days of filing of chargesheet [X v State of NCT of Delhi (Acting through its Secretary) & Anr]. .The High Court said that this interim compensation will not be less than 25% of the maximum awardable compensation and that if the special court is of the opinion that this amount will not meet the rehabilitative needs of the survivor, the same can be increased after giving reasons. “This interim compensation will be in addition to the interim compensation (amounting to 25% of the maximum amount) disbursed by the Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA)/ District Legal Services Authority (DLSA),” the Court said.At present, neither POCSO Act nor the Delhi Victim Compensation Scheme (DVC scheme) provide any time frame or deadline for disbursing the compensation amount.Single-judge Justice Jasmeet Singh ruled that whether the accused is guilty or not is not relevant or to be considered in awarding interim compensation since the focus should be on the survivor. Pertinently, the Court held that there cannot be any upper limit on the compensation though the DYC scheme provide for a maximum compensation..The term 'maximum compensation' laid down in the DVC scheme is to be construed as minimum compensation, the single-judge said.Justice Singh observed that in any beneficial scheme/ legislation, there cannot be a concept of maximum.“How can there be price tag on the suffering of the survivor? No amount of compensation can undo the trauma. The least that can be to help the survivor get his/her life back on track. However, pecuniary compensation can be of assistance in the rehabilitation of the survivor,” the Court stated. .The Court further held that the statute/ scheme should not decide the maximum and though the court has the power to scale them up and down but scaling down would mean injustice to the survivors who have suffered. These are the situations which require scaling up, the single-judge said. “For instance, the compensation for ―rape in the schedule has been provided as ₹7 lakhs maximum. In view of the aforesaid discussion, I am of the view that purposive interpretation and beneficial legislation requires the said sum of ₹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 DVC scheme). The final compensation shall not be less than ₹10.5 lakhs," the judgment said. .The directions were issued by the High Court while dealing with an appeal by mother of a CSA survivor who was barely seven years old at the time of incident.Though the special court convicted the accused under Section 6 of the POCSO Act (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) and Section 342 (wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), it only awarded ₹50,000 as compensation to the survivor. .In a detailed order, Justice Singh dealt with both the macro questions – of awarding compensation to child victims in general and the procedure to be followed for the same– and the micro question where the compensation given to the victim in the present case was increased to ₹10.5 lakh..At the very outset, the Court referred to a 2019 study by the Supreme Court Registrar which found that in 99% of POCSO cases considered, child victims did not receive any interim compensation from the government..It was noted that whether the accused is guilty or not is not relevant or to be considered in awarding interim compensation and the focus is on the survivor. Therefore, compensatory proceedings revolve around the needs of the survivor and not on the guilt of the accused..The judge also delineated the powers of the special court and the DSLSA/DLSa as he held that only a special court is legally competent to quantify the amount of compensation and the authorities can only act as disbursal authorities with no power to assess the compensation amount..Justice Singh ordered that every POCSO FIR will have to be concurrently sent to both Member Secretary, DSLSA and special court. The DSLSA/ DSLA will be also supplied with a copy of the chargesheet on the basis of which they will release 25% of the compensation amount to survivors..The High Court also directed the special court to file yearly reports on the number of cases of interim compensation and final compensation granted. DSLSA was also directed to file quarterly reports on the cases wherein interim final compensation has been granted and the time taken by DSLSA to disburse the said amount..Advocates Kriti Awasthi and Nimisha Menon appeared for the appellant mother.Additional Public Prosecutor Sanjeev Sabharwal appeared for state.DSLSA was represented through its Member Secretary, Kanwal Jeet Arora.Advocate Aditi Gupta appeared for R-3. .[Read Judgment]