Government of India has set up a dedicated fund called “Nirbhaya Fund” in 2013, for implementation of initiatives aimed at enhancing the safety and security for women in the country. As per guidelines of Ministry of Finance (DEA), an Empowered Committee (EC) was constituted under the Chairmanship of Secretary, WCD for appraising various schemes/projects proposed by the Ministries/Departments to be funded from the Nirbhaya Fund. Nirbhaya Fund is regularly reviewed and monitored by the Government of India.

 

As per Section 357A of Cr.P.C., every State Government in co-ordination with the Central Government is required to prepare a Victim Compensation Scheme for providing funds for the purpose of compensation to the victim or his dependents who have suffered loss or injury as a result of the crime and who require rehabilitation. All the State/Union Territories have notified Victim Compensation Scheme in their respective State/UT.

 

In view of the disparity in quantum of compensation notified by different States/UTs for victims of similar crimes, the Government of India has set up a Central Victim Compensation Fund (CVCF) with an initial corpus fund of Rs 200 crore from the Nirbhaya Fund for supporting States/UTs towards the implementation of Victim Compensation Scheme framed under section 357A CrPC. Under the CVCF scheme, financial assistance of Rs. 200 Crores as one time grant has been released to all the States/UTs in 2016-17 to supplement and support the Victim Compensation Scheme notified by the State/UT Administrations. States/UTs further release the funds to victims on their own and are not required to furnish their proposals to the Central Government for approval. Applications for compensation from victims are made to the States/UTs directly.

 

This information was given by Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Dr. Virendra Kumar in reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

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