A PIL had been filed before the Delhi High Court to set aside the prevailing victim compensation scheme by NGO iProBono earlier this year.

Written by Aneesha Mathur | New Delhi | Published:September 10, 2015 3:31 am 

A new scheme in the works — to provide compensation to victims of crimes in Delhi — may finally meet a longstanding demand of child rights activists, who have sought proper compensation for minors who are victims of sexual offences, including male children.

Senior Standing Counsel of Delhi Government, Rahul Mehra, on Wednesday told the bench of Justice G S Sistani and Justice Sangeeta Dhingra Sehgal that the AAP government was “working on a new victim compensation scheme” and may also consider including children under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act within the scheme. The bench has now adjourned the matter till November to give time for the creation of the policy.

A PIL had been filed before the Delhi High Court to set aside the prevailing victim compensation scheme by NGO iProBono earlier this year, on the grounds that it discriminates against male victims of child sexual abuse.

The plea, filed through advocates Diya Kapur and Sheyl Trehan, had sought enhancement in the amount of compensation given to child victims of sexual assault, as well as compensation of Rs 10 lakh for a minor boy who was sexually assaulted by three older students in his school in 2013.

So far, under the existing compensation schemes, male victims of sexual offences were given compensation as “child abuse” victims and not as victims of rape, since the law did not recognise that boys could be rape victims. With the introduction of the POCSO Act in 2012, gender neutral definitions of sexual assault were introduced.

http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/delhi-governments-new-compensation-scheme-may-include-child-victims-of-sex-crimes/