The Delhi High Court has stated that in sexual assault cases, there will not be a need to submit a separate application for the condonation of delay in order to request compensation.

According to a claim, several courts or District Victim Compensation Committees (DVCCs) might not consider compensation requests for cases where the trial occurred over three years ago.

The court said “DSLSA qua Courts/ DVCCs rejecting to entertain applications for compensation on the ground that the same are barred by limitation, I am of the view that since no limitation for filing an application for compensation is provided under Section 357(A) of the Cr.PC or Section 33 of the POCSO Act, such a provision under the Part-II of the Delhi Victims? Compensation Scheme (DVCS)-2018 cannot be used/ invoked in a hyper-technical manner to defeat the rights of the victim for whose assistance and support the entire Scheme has been formulated.”

“Hence, to obviate the possibility of the victim’s right to compensation being fettered or curtailed on the technical plea of limitation alone, I deem it fit to clarify that there will be no requirement to file a separate application for condonation of delay in seeking compensation.” court further added.

DSLSA in the meanwhile is directed to start moving applications on behalf of the victims in disposed of cases at the earliest and file a fresh report on the NDOH so that the latter can meaningfully and effectively perform the task of moving applications for compensation on behalf of the victims of sexual offences, in the cases registered between 2012- 2017.