Only 5-10% of sexual assault victims get compensation: SC
New Delhi, May 8: Hardly 5-10 percent of sexual assault victims across the country were able to get compensation under the relevant schemes in various states, the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) told the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
A bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta was told that maximum 10 per cent victims were getting compensation under the schemes.
NALSA said as per the data of Andhra Pradesh, of the 901 cases lodged in 2017, only one victim has received compensation.
In 2016, 840 such cases were lodged in Andhra Pradesh but only eight victims got compensation, said the NALSA data, adding that of the 1,028 cases registered in 2017 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in the state, only 11 victims were compensated.
In Rajasthan, 3,305 such cases were registered in 2017 and 140 victims received compensation.
In Bihar, 1,199 FIRs of sexual assault were lodged in 2017 but only 82 victims were compensated, revealed the data.
After the December 16, 2012 gang-rape and murder case in Delhi, the Central government in 2013 announced a Nirbhaya Fund scheme to support the initiatives of the governments and the NGOs working for women's safety.
The court was hearing petitions filed after the gangrape case in 2012, raising concerns over the safety and security of women.
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BJP writes to EC about 'non-deployment' of central forces to avert clash
Kolkata (PTI): The BJP on Sunday wrote to the Election Commission alleging that its workers were not given security and came under attack while travelling to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally at Brigade Parade Ground on March 14 and sought action over the alleged non-deployment of central forces by police.
In a letter to the poll panel, BJP leader Shishir Bajoria claimed that buses carrying party workers to the rally were targeted with bricks in the Girish Park area of north Kolkata, leaving several activists injured, some of whom were hospitalised.
Trouble broke out in the area when BJP activists objected to the putting up of flexes which read 'Boycott BJP', before the house of state minister Shashi Panja and tore down the flexes. Heavy brick batting followed as both sides regrouped along Central Avenue, and the window panes on the ground-floor room of Panja's residence were damaged in stone pelting.
The minister claimed she and several of her party members were injured in the brickbatting by rally-bound BJP supporters.
In the letter, the BJP alleged that despite a substantial deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) ahead of the elections, the forces were not present at the site of the disturbance to ensure the safety of its workers and leaders.
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Putting the onus on TMC for the violence, the letter said, "A large number of buses bringing BJP 'karyakartas' to attend the rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Brigade Parade Ground were subjected to large-scale brick-batting and violence, resulting in several BJP leaders sustaining injuries, many of whom had to be hospitalised."
Attaching purported photos and videos of the clash to back up their claims of TMC instigation, the letter said: "What was particularly of grave concern was that despite a big deployment of CAPF well before the polls, their complete absence at the spot during the disturbance, or in any part of the city of Kolkata."
"We would like to put on record that the presence of Kolkata Police at the spot of disturbance establishes the fact that they had an advance intelligence report of possible violence and yet kept the CAPF out," the BJP leader said in the letter to the CEC Gyanesh Kumar, and Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal.
"Given the seriousness of the incident and the injuries sustained by several of our karyakarta, it raises concerns among citizens regarding the effective deployment of CAPF for preventing violence, and ensuring a free and fair electoral environment," the letter said.
"We request your good office to kindly take the strongest possible action against those who were responsible for this non-deployment of CAPF, resulting in this incident and ensure that in future deployment is carried out in a manner that truly serves its intended purpose of area domination, confidence building, and timely intervention wherever law and order situations arises from now till the elections are over," the letter said.
The BJP also reminded the commission that a party delegation had earlier met the full bench of the poll body on March 9 and raised concerns that CAPF personnel were being deployed for route marches in peaceful areas and highways instead of in locations requiring voter confidence-building measures.
At least eight persons, including a police officer, were injured in brickbatting, which broke out half an hour before the arrival of the Prime Minister at the Brigade Rally. The clash continued for about an hour as both sides fought a pitched battle on the road and nearby by-lanes before reinforcements brought the situation under control.
