The Odisha Human Rights Commission has asked the secretary of the state's ST& SC development department to pay Rs 75,000 to the family of a minor girl, who was allegedly raped and impregnated by the headmaster of a residential school in Koraput district.
The commission's acting chairman, Justice B K Mishra, while hearing a petition filed by advocate Biswapriya Kanungo, on Friday, directed the ST & SC department to offer financial assistance to the girl's father as interim relief.
"The commission recommends the government in ST & SC development department to pay financial assistance to the tune of Rs 75,000 by way of interim relief to Laxman Sisa, the father of the victim girl," the OHRC order said.
It also asked the secretary of the department to submit a report of compliance within four weeks.
The commission posted the next date of hearing in the case on February 19.
According to the report submitted to the OHRC by the sub-divisional police officer, Nandapur, Koraput district, accused headmaster Bidhubhusan Naik was arrested on October 2, a day after the girl had lodged a complaint at Padwa police station in Koraput district.
In his plea, advocate Kanungo drew the attention of the commission to the fact that the additional district magistrate and the Nandapur SDPO have submitted the report instead of the district collector and the SP, in a departure from the norm.
He also said that the report was possibly prepared in a slipshod manner as it does not say much about the progress in the case.
The Victim Compensation Scheme, formulated by the state government in 2013, stipulates that a compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh is to be paid to a child victim in case of penetrative sexual assault and aggravated penetrative assault.
"It is not known as to why the government directions were not followed in this case and a paltry sum of Rs 10,000 was paid to the girl as an interim relief from the district Red Cross Fund," Kanungo said.
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