New Delhi,
October 2: Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the Delhi government, legal
services authority and state commission for women to respond to a plea moved by
a victim of human trafficking and rape who has sought Rs. 19 lakh as
compensation.
The court
while listing December 9 as the day for next hearing in the case has asked the
authorities to file their replies.
The victim
in her plea said she belongs to a poor and vulnerable family residing in a
remote rural area of Meghalaya. She was lured and trafficked to Delhi on the
pretext of a job by her cousin, who along with others is allegedly running a
trafficking racket in the national capital. The plea alleged that hundreds of
girls, including minors, were trafficked and forced into commercial sexual
exploitation.
The woman
said she was lured in January last year on the pretext of providing a job on a
salary of Rs. 20,000. However, on her arrival in Delhi, she was taken to a flat
where she was repeatedly raped by a man who in turn sold her to several others
and was sexually exploited by them.
Sharing her
ordeal the victim said that in February last year, she managed to escape and
reached Malviya Nagar police station with the help of some friends, and lodged an
FIR.
She said
that she was shocked when despite a specific complaint, the police officer had
not invoked the penal provision of rape in the FIR.
The survivor
has moved an application for compensation under the Delhi Victim Compensation
Scheme and Compensation Scheme for Women Victim/ Survivor of Sexual Assault/
Other Crimes-2018, seeking a compensation of Rs 19 lakhs in February this year.
Claiming
that no action has been taken by the authorities so far, she said that she had
submitted her application for compensation to the Department of Women and Child
Development, which forwarded it to Delhi State Legal Services Authority which in
turn had sent it to South district DLSA.