NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Friday said those who indulge in violence in the name of cow vigilantism need to be brought to justice and states were under obligation to compensate victims of violence by such groups.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said states must frame schemes to compensate victims of crime, including those of cow vigilantism, as envisaged under the Code of Criminal Procedure, while hearing a petition filed by activist Tushar Gandhi. “No state can wash off its hands like this,” the bench observed.
The court asked all states and union territories to comply with its September 6 order to appoint nodal officers to deal with cow vigilantism by October 31 and file their compliance reports. The direction came after the bench was informed that only five states — Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh —have filed compliance reports and asked counsel for the remaining 22 states to file the reports.
However, the court refused to take up the issue of murder of Junaid on a train in Faridabad allegedly by members of a cow vigilante group now and said individual cases should not be clubbed with the larger issue. During the hearing, senior advocate Indira Jaising appearing for Gandhi said, “There have been more than 60 incidents across India where people were assaulted and even beaten to death after allegations that they had killed cows or were in possession of beef. There are groups which are committing atrocities against Dalits and other minorities in the name of protection of cows.”
SC expresses anguish over rape compensation
The Supreme Court Friday expressed unhappiness over the sad state of affairs on the issue of compensation to be disbursed to the victims of sexual assault under the Nirbhaya fund, as there was no clarity on how and at what stage it should be paid. A bench of justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said though the Centre was disbursing funds to the states under the scheme, there appeared to be no system as to how and at what stage the sexual assault victims have to be compensated.
The bench took note of the fact that there is no integrated system of disbursal and management of the money allocated for compensating such victims. The Nirbhaya Fund was announced by the Centre in 2013 after the December 16, 2012, gang-rape and murder in Delhi to support initiatives of the government and NGOs working towards protecting the dignity and ensuring the safety of women.