Compensation recovery under Atrocity Act

Context:

The Gujarat government has asked the opinion of Union government regarding recovery of compensation from Dalit complainants under The Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Details

• A special trial court had directed the government to recover compensation that was paid by the government to the victim under Atrocity Act where the accused had been acquitted.

• Court said that registering false complaints of Dalit atrocities to get compensation from the government was not acceptable.

• Since the Atrocity Act is a Central Act, the Gujarat government had asked for the guidance of the Union government to act further.

• There is no provision for recovering compensation from victim in case of Atrocity Act. It will be difficult to follow the directive in case of poor people.

• The question remains on what have to be done with regards to the court judgments and whether the compensation should be recovered and if yes, how.

• Social activists say that the government should file an appeal in the High court and recovery of compensation does not arise as there is no such provision under the Act.

Compensation under Atrocity Act

• Compensation in case of murder is Rs 8.25 lakh, rape or gangrape Rs 5 lakh will be given, sexual harassment it is Rs 2 lakh, preventing entry into religious/cultural/social places will attract Rs 1 lakh and making derogatory remarks Rs 1 lakh.

• About 25 per cent of the compensation amount will be given during the time of registering the FIR, 50 per cent will be paid after the chargesheet is submitted and the remaining 25 per cent will be given when the case is proved in the trial court.

Atrocity Act

• The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 is an Act of the Parliament of India that is implemented to prevent discrimination, prevent atrocities and crimes against scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

• A large number of cases of misuse under the act have been reported and Supreme Court had directed reforms for to be made in this act.