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Madras high court upholds enhanced relief for kin of dalit girl who killed self Justice V Parthiban observed that the order passed by the trial court granting Rs 5lakh compensation and Rs 3,000 towards monthly pension to the victim’s family is well within the framework of the SC/ST Act.

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Madras high court upholds enhanced relief for kin of dalit girl who killed self
Kaushik Kannan | TNN | Updated: Dec 24, 2019, 13:12 IST







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MADURAI: Madras high court has dismissed the state government’s appeal challenging the compensation awarded to the family of a dalit girl in an abetment to suicide case, saying that the lower court was right in awarding enhanced compensation.

The prosecution case is that two people, Bava Bhurdeen and Vijay, tried to sexually assault a dalit girl from 
Madurai district on November 24, 2011.

Though she ran away and informed her mother about the incident, she was depressed and immolated herself at her house the next day. Police registered a case against both under IPC section 306 (
abetment of suicide), section 4 of Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act and section 3(1)(xi) of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The III additional district and sessions (PCR) court at 
Madurai convicted the duo under IPC 306 and handed them seven years imprisonment but acquitted them of charges under the other sections.

The court also directed the state government to pay Rs 5lakh compensation and Rs 3,000 as monthly pension to the victim’s family. The government moved the HC challenging the order of the lower court pertaining to the compensation part alone.

The additional public prosecutor submitted that the ministry of social justice and empowerment had issued an amended notification to provide enhanced compensation of Rs 5lakh under SC/ST Act only on December 23, 2011 and the new rules came into force only on April 14, 2016. Since the incident happened prior to the notification, the enhanced compensation of Rs 5lakh should not have been awarded by the lower court.

Counsel for the victim’s family submitted that though the incident happened prior to the amended notification, the lower court had passed the final order only on February 10, 2017. He submitted that the lower court had adopted a purposeful interpretation of the same to extend the benefit of the legislation to the victim’s family awarding enhanced compensation.

Justice V Parthiban observed that the order passed by the trial court granting Rs 5lakh compensation and Rs 3,000 towards monthly pension to the victim’s family is well within the framework of the SC/ST Act.

Though the incident occurred before the amended notification, the trial court had rightly taken into consideration the fact that the notification was in existence on the day the order was passed. The court also found that there was no exclusion clause that the amended notification would not apply to cases which had occurred earlier to the notification

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