KOLKATA: Calcutta High Court has directed the Bengal government and State Legal Services Authority (SLSA) to file a report within six weeks on funds.
The HC wanted to know “the steps which are proposed to be taken for ensuring that adequate amounts of funds reach the SLSA within six weeks from the date the order got passed. The report shall indicate the funds which are proposed to be put in with SLSA within the time directed for dealing with pending cases of victim compensation”.
Hearing a petition by a survivor, who has been waiting for over two-and-a-half years to get compensation of Rs 1,50,000, a single-judge bench of Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya in her order said: “The West Bengal Victim Compensation Scheme, 2017 …reinforces in Clause 3 that the State Government shall constitute a fund namely Victim Compensation Fund from which amount of compensation under this scheme shall be paid to the victim or his/her dependents.”
“Clause 3 also provides for the State Government to allot a separate budget on an annual basis and the fund shall be operated by the Member Secretary, SLSA... This court has noted in other matters of similar nature that the SLSA has not been provided with the funds for disbursement towards victim compensation,” the judgment stated.
Activists and survivors of human trafficking welcomed the HC order. According to members of Tafteesh (a collective for lawyers, psychologists and survivors of human trafficking from across India), the state has a number of trafficking survivors who have been awarded victim compensation, but the money has not yet been handed over to them.
