Maharashtra Govt Denies Aid To Acid Attack Survivor On A Technicality

Jagran Post

MUMBAI: The state government, which introduced a scheme in 2013 to help survivors of acid attacks and sexual assaults, has told the Bombay high court that Aarti Thakur (25), attacked at Goregaon railway station by her former landlady's son, was not eligible as it happened over a year before the scheme was launched.

The government replied to a March 11 direction from a bench of Justices V M Kanade and A R Joshi to state if it would pay for the Rs3 lakh medical treatment she was to undergo this week either through the Manodhairya Yojana scheme or through the Chief Minister's Fund. The scheme, which came into effect on October 2, 2013, provides for medical treatment, legal aid, counseling and rehabilitation for victims of "sexual assault and acid attacks". It provides Rs2-3 lakh for child abuse and sexual assault victims. Acid attack victims are given Rs50,000 to Rs3 lakh.

Aarti is to undergo a scar revision surgery on her face and neck, followed by laser treatment costing Rs3 lakh at Nova Specialty Hospitals, Chembur. The marketing executive and sole bread-earner was attacked on January 31, 2012, after she spurned the marriage proposal of Nasir Sheikh alias Pintoo (25). Nasir, his aides Feroz Memon and Mohammed Shaikh and his mother Manju are out on bail. Charges were framed for trial a year ago.

Aarti moved the HC saying even though the attack was in 2012, treatment was still on. She challenged the Rs3 lakh maximum cap in the scheme and sought Rs30 lakh as she has to under more surgeries. She referred to the Supreme Court's July 18, 2013, verdict in Laxmi versus Union of India case, which had directed payment of at least Rs3 lakh to the victim. Her advocate Devapriya Mukherjee argued that Maharashtra has kept Rs3 lakh as the maximum payout. But the state's March 13 affidavit, filed by the district woman and child welfare officer (Thane) urged dismissal of Aarti's petition, saying she was "misinterpreting" the SC judgment.

There is no provision to pay more than Rs3 lakh under the scheme, it said. The state iterated that Aarti does not fit in the eligibility criteria as the attack was prior to when the scheme came into effect, and added that "victims of rape, sexual assaults and acid attacks on October 2, 2013, and onwards are covered under it".

The matter was postponed to Tuesday.

(This article was originally published in The Times of India).