Supreme Court Says: Provide Counselling For Child Victims Of Sexual Offences, Ensure Their Education

The Supreme Court in the case State of Rajasthan v. Gautam s/o Mohanlal observed that when the child is subjected to sexual assault, the State or the Legal Services Authorities should ensure that the child is being provided with a facility of counselling by a trained child counsellor or child psychologist. As it will help the victim children to come out of the trauma, which will enable them to lead a better life in future.

The bench comprising of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Pankaj Mithal in the case observed and has stated that the social environment around the victim child may not always be conducive to the rehabilation of victim. Thus, only the monetary compensation is not enough and only the payment of compensation will not amount to rehabilitation in a true sense.

The court stated that the State should also ensure that the children who are the victims of the offence continue with their education. The bench in the case observed and has stated that the rehabilitation of the girl victims in life should be part of the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ campaign of the Central Government. Therefore, as the welfare State, it will be the duty of the Government to do so.

Thus, the court directed that the copies of the said judgement should be sent to the Secretaries of the concerned departments of the State.
It has also been directed by the said court that its Registry to forward a copy of this judgment to the Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Central Government for enabling the government to take appropriate action in terms of the above observations.

The bench in the case made the said observations in the judgement deciding an appeal filed by the State of Rajasthan High Court challenging the order passed by the Rajasthan High Court reducing the sentence awarded to a convict for the rape of a girl child from life term to twelve years.

Therefore, the Supreme Court in the case did not restore the life sentence awarded by the trial court but directed that the convict must serve a sentence of 14 years without remission. Thus, the said court considered the young age of the accused i.e, 22 years as one of the mitigating factors.

Further, it has also been directed by the said court that the Secretary of the Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority to ensure that compensation under the relevant victim compensation scheme is immediately paid to the victim as per her entitlement, if it is already not paid.