A woman in North 24-Parganas, trafficked as a minor to a red-light area in Pune, has been awarded a compensation of Rs 7 lakh by Calcutta High Court.
The woman, now 21, plans to start a poultry farm with the money, said a social worker mentoring her. She believes the only antidote to the stigma she has been facing is financial independence.
The district legal services authority (DLSA) of North 24-Parganas had in December 2019 ordered a compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh for the survivor, the daughter of a daily wage earner.
Her appeal for an enhancement of the amount was first heard by a Pocso court, which sent the appeal to the DLSA for reconsideration.
The DLSA turned down the plea, following which she approached the high court in March this year.
“The state shall hence pay a sum of Rs 7 lakh tothe petitioner within seven days from date,” a bench of Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya said in an order on April 26.
“At the last hearing on Thursday (May 4), the government’s counsel told the court that the amount had been disbursed from the state’s coffers,” the survivor’s lawyer, Arijit Bhushan Bagchi, told this newspaper.
“The DLSA had granted the compensation under the West Bengal Victim Compensation Scheme 2017. But we demanded a higher amount in keeping with the NALSA (National Legal Services Authority) Compensation Scheme for Women Victims/Survivors of Sexual Assault/other Crimes 2018,” he said.
The woman was a student of Class IX when a local youth befriended her.
“He promised marriage and a better life. The girl’s parents and an elder brother could barely make ends meet. The girl fell for the promise,” said Biskash Das, a social worker with the Teghoria Institute for Social Movement, an NGO that works for rehabilitation of trafficking survivors.
She was taken to Budhwar Peth, a red-light district in Pune, and forced into prostitution. She was eventually rescued in August 2017.
“She was married a few years later. But her in-laws refused to take her in after coming to know about her past. Recently, she gave birth to a boy. She lives with her parents now,” said Das.