The Union government has released Rs. 20 crore for the Central Victim Compensation Fund (CVCF) under the Nirbhaya Scheme to various States and Union Territories.

This is only 10% of the total corpus of Rs. 200 crore allocated for the scheme.

The details were revealed in a reply to a question raised in the Rajya Sabha by former Union Minister K. Rahman Khan on December 27, 2017. Mr. Khan also wanted to know how many rape victims had been compensated under the scheme in the last three years and how many cases were pending for disbursement of compensation.

Speaking to The Hindu, the MP said the release of a mere 10% of the funds spoke volumes of the status of compensation given to the victims of sexual assault in the country. “This scheme is already three or four years old and the Centre cannot even provide data on the number of victims compensated,” Mr. Khan said.

Data unavailable

In its response to the MP’s question, the Home Ministry said, “Applications for compensation from victims are made to States/UT directly. Therefore, the data on pending applications is not available with the Central government”.

The highest amount of Rs. 28.10 crore was released for Uttar Pradesh, followed by Madhya Pradesh (Rs. 21.80 crore), Maharashtra (Rs. 17.65 crore). West Bengal received Rs. 12.65 crore. Delhi received Rs. 8.8 crore.

Rishi Kant of the Shakti Vahini, a non-governmental organisation involved in rescue and rehabilitation of victims of trafficking, said most of the survivors of sexual assault or acid attacks were not aware that they were entitled to compensation by the State. “The law enforcement agencies of none of the States have taken much efforts to spread awareness about CVCF,” Mr. Kant said.