Nainital: The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the state government to pay Rs 35 lakh compensation to an acid attack victim and bear the entire cost of her treatment. A single bench of senior judge Sanjay Kumar Mishra pronounced the judgment on Friday while hearing the plea of the victim seeking better compensation, along with medical benefits and a job, after the state government gave her an ex-gratia of Rs 1.80 lakh.
The acid attack had left the survivor with 60 per cent burns and damaged 50 per cent of her hearing ability when she was a student in Class XII. The victim had filed a review petition in the High Court in 2019 demanding a compensation of Rs 50 lakhs against the HC's ruling directing for immediate medical compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh to the victim.
Also read: Minor rape victim allowed pregnancy termination by Uttarakhand HC
Earlier, in the year 2016, the lower court sentenced the accused to 10 years imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000. During the final hearing of the case, it was argued by the government that instead of filing a petition directly in the High Court, the petitioner should apply to a different forum. The government also said that by giving benefits in such a case, all people would ask for such compensation.
Countering this, petitioner's advocate Snigdha Tiwari told the High Court that proper compensation was not being given in the case of an acid attack victim while the government gives crores of rupees in political matters. She said that the dignity of a victim, the way in which she will have to live in this shadow for the rest of her life, should be compensated.
