NEW DELHI:The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the Uttarakhand and West Bengal governments and summoned their top officials for naming rape victims in the affidavit pertaining to compensation under the Nirbhaya Funds scheme.The affidavit filed by Uttrakhand, in fact, contained several other details such as their age, parent’s name and full addresses.
A bench headed by Justice M B Lokur pulled up the Advocate On Record and counsels for the states, saying that they too can be punished for the offence. The bench slammed them for blindly filing the affidavit without verification.
“The state governments of Uttarakhand and West Bengal have filed affidavits with names of victims. This is highly objectionable and contrary to law and amounts to a criminal offence,” the bench said.Appearing as amicus in the case, senior advocate Indira Jaising said, “How can it be possible that the state government doesn’t know the offences?” Jaising said the data submitted is not enough as under the Nirbhaya scheme, a maximum of `3 lakh can be given.
She submitted a chart and contended the figures seem to be low. “We have to examine how many FIRs are lodged under these offences. And there must be a difference between rape and murder because both cannot be clubbed.”The court slated the hearing after two weeks.