Victims of crime deprived of benefits

Bhopal, May 03: Victims of crime could now procure compensation from earnings of the convicts, irrespective of their financial status. The Jail Department recently issued a notification deleting mandatory condition of being member of family living below poverty line (BPL) for obtaining compensation.

As per section 647 A of the MP Prison Rules, 1968, victims of offense were paid compensation from common fund created out of wages earned by the convicts in jail. A committee comprising District Magistrate as Chairman, Superintendent of Police (SP) as member and Jail Superintendent as member secretary meet at regular interval to disburse compensation to victims of offense. The compensation of Rs 10,000 is available to victim family who has lost its member/members due to crime. It was learnt that about Rs 7 crore has been accumulated in the fund from the wages earned by the convicts.

Earlier, the MP Prison Rules, 1968 authorized only BPL family to obtain compensation. The other sub-rules also state that the compensation would be given to senior most member of the family and the family includes deceased's wife/husband and dependent children. About a couple of years ago, a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the High Court complaining violation of fundamental rights of the prisoners lodged in jails of the state. In the PIL, the petitioner complained that jails are overcrowded; the prisoners were being paid meager wage and victims of offense were hardly identified for paying compensation.

The High Court on May 11, 2007 pronounced judgment asking the state government to fix equitable and reasonable wages for prisoners and do the needful for determination of victims of offense in consultation with the Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission (MPHRC). Later, a meeting was convened at the MPHRC on October 6, 2007 wherein Principal Secretary Jail assured that provisions of the MP Prison Rules would be complied with. In compliance with High Court directives and meeting held in the MPHRC, the Jail Department on March 28, 2008 issued a notification deleting a few provisions from the State Prison Rules. As per notification, the mandatory condition for being in the BPL list for procuring compensation was removed. Another condition of being senior most member of the family for receiving compensation was also deleted. An addition was also made in the Rules wherein it was stated that all compensation would distributed equally among the heirs.