No cut-off date for Manodhairya scheme: HC
Calls for compliance report to be submitted within four weeks after WCD says incidents happened before scheme came into effect.
The Bombay High Court on Friday asked the Commissionerate of Women and Child Development (WCD) to consider sanction of compensation to 24 girls, who were sexually exploited in two orphanages for mentally challenged in Thane and Panvel, as per the ‘Manodhairya’ scheme.
According to a report submitted on Friday by the HC-appointed Committee for Child Protection (CCP), WCD had said that the incidents of sexual harassment of the children had occurred before the scheme came into effect in Maharashtra.
The court has also ordered a compliance report to be submitted WCD within four weeks.
As per a government resolution, under the ‘Manodhairya’ scheme a rape victim or a child victim of sexual offences will be entitled to a minimum compensation of Rs 2 lakh, which can be increased to a maximum of Rs 3 lakh in special cases.
The HC appointed CCP, headed by Dr Asha Bajpai, had raised the issue of providing compensation to these victims for the first time in March last year. At the last hearing, the division bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice M S Sonak directed the department to finalise the issue “as expeditiously as possible, in any case, not later than December 7, 2014”.
During the hearing, Dr Bajpai also raised the need of a mechanism for proper usage of the compensation for the education and rehabilitation of the victims.
Case background
On August 23, 2010, Mumbai Mirror first exposed the brutal abuse of mentally deficient children - some as young as seven - at an orphanage in Kavdas village of Thane district. Later, another case of abuse of children came to light at an orphanage in Panvel.
All the children from Kavdas were rescued the same day and moved to another orphanage, where they told counsellors how they were routinely raped and sodomised after being forced to consume liquor. Those who resisted were branded with cigarettes and beaten black and blue.
In December 2013, a court convicted six of the eight accused, including the Kavdas shelter home's founder and his wife. They were held guilty of charges ranging from rape, sodomy, attempt-tomurder and culpable homicide to torture. Their sentences range from 5 years to life imprisonment. The orphanage's founder Pundalik Gole was sentenced to life imprisonment, while his wife Sakshi was sentenced to seven years in prison. Two care-takers, Jitendra Chavan and Ramkrishna Bagul, were sentenced to ten years and five years in jail respectively. - MMB
The Bombay High Court on Friday asked the Commissionerate of Women and Child Development (WCD) to consider sanction of compensation to 24 girls, who were sexually exploited in two orphanages for mentally challenged in Thane and Panvel, as per the ‘Manodhairya’ scheme.
According to a report submitted on Friday by the HC-appointed Committee for Child Protection (CCP), WCD had said that the incidents of sexual harassment of the children had occurred before the scheme came into effect in Maharashtra.
However, a division bench HC held that “such a cut-off date was arbitrary and in contravention of the SC directions. The scheme does not mention any cut-off date,” added the court.
The court has also ordered a compliance report to be submitted WCD within four weeks.
As per a government resolution, under the ‘Manodhairya’ scheme a rape victim or a child victim of sexual offences will be entitled to a minimum compensation of Rs 2 lakh, which can be increased to a maximum of Rs 3 lakh in special cases.
The HC appointed CCP, headed by Dr Asha Bajpai, had raised the issue of providing compensation to these victims for the first time in March last year. At the last hearing, the division bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice M S Sonak directed the department to finalise the issue “as expeditiously as possible, in any case, not later than December 7, 2014”.
During the hearing, Dr Bajpai also raised the need of a mechanism for proper usage of the compensation for the education and rehabilitation of the victims.
Case background
On August 23, 2010, Mumbai Mirror first exposed the brutal abuse of mentally deficient children - some as young as seven - at an orphanage in Kavdas village of Thane district. Later, another case of abuse of children came to light at an orphanage in Panvel.
All the children from Kavdas were rescued the same day and moved to another orphanage, where they told counsellors how they were routinely raped and sodomised after being forced to consume liquor. Those who resisted were branded with cigarettes and beaten black and blue.
In December 2013, a court convicted six of the eight accused, including the Kavdas shelter home's founder and his wife. They were held guilty of charges ranging from rape, sodomy, attempt-tomurder and culpable homicide to torture. Their sentences range from 5 years to life imprisonment. The orphanage's founder Pundalik Gole was sentenced to life imprisonment, while his wife Sakshi was sentenced to seven years in prison. Two care-takers, Jitendra Chavan and Ramkrishna Bagul, were sentenced to ten years and five years in jail respectively. - MMB
