Madhya Pradesh approves scheme to compensate victims of mob violence

Officials said the compensation would be Rs 10 lakh for a victim’s family in case of death, and that there would be provisions for Rs 4-6 lakh compensation to injured victims.

Victims of “any act or series of acts of violence by a mob, involving five or more individuals, causing harm or injury to a person or persons based on religion, caste, gender, place of birth, language, food preferences, sexual preferences, political affiliations, ethnicity, or any other such grounds” can get compensation under the scheme, an official said.

Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang told reporters here that the Cabinet approved the decision following Supreme Court directives.

On July 17, 2018, the Supreme Court had issued comprehensive guidelines on dealing with lynchings and mob violence. In its judgment in Tehseen S Poonawalla vs Union of India & Others case, the court had directed that “State governments shall prepare a lynching/mob violence victim compensation scheme”.

“For computation of compensation, the State Governments shall give due regard to the nature of bodily injury, psychological injury and loss of earnings including loss of opportunities of employment and education and expenses incurred on account of legal and medical expenses,” the court had said.

It had also directed that the compensation scheme must have provisions for interim relief to be paid to the victim or the victim’s next of kin within 30 days of the incident.

In July this year, the National Federation of Indian Women moved a PIL that also demanded compensation for victims in six cases reported over the previous two months and raised concerns about the number of lynchings taking place even after the apex court had issued guidelines in 2018. On this, the Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and six states – Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Odisha, and Maharashtra.