This article is a part of Meri Suno, a campaign to give voice to survivors of trafficking. The campaign is led by members of the Indian Leadership Forum Against Trafficking, a survivor-led organisation formed to combat trafficking. Visit ILFAT.org to know more.
Nandini’s (name changed) life as a street dancer was one of regular sexual abuse, something she had been suffering since she was just a child. A few years into adulthood, she hoped that marriage will help her turn her life around. But when the marriage turned abusive, she had no choice but to go back to the profession – and support her two children with the income she earned. Nandini got another chance at a life of dignity, away from sexual exploitation when she was rescued by an NGO and promised support. But that was just the beginning of another set of struggles.
Starting a new life requires financial support – something that Nandini and other women and girls who are rescued from sexual exploitation are entitled to, through the Victim Compensation Scheme of the Indian government. But four years after she was rescued, Nandini has not received a single rupee of the victim compensation.
When a victim of sexual trafficking is rescued or is able to come out of it themselves, they would want to build their life once again. While the focus of the criminal justice system is on the accused, there is little done to compensate the survivor for the physical and mental trauma that they went through. In a bid to address this, a Central Victim Compensation Fund (CVCF) with initial corpus of Rs 200 crore was introduced in 2015. As per the scheme, “victims will be compensated on the grounds of various injuries, loss and death with respect to acid attack, rape, human trafficking, disabilities and burns affected on them. Women victims of cross-border suffering permanent or partial disability or death will also be compensated under the Central Victim Compensation Fund Scheme.” However, a look at data today shows that the Central Victim Compensation Fund lies unutilised.
Vipan Kumar, a Kolkata-based human rights lawyer and legal researcher, filed RTIs in all the states and union territories in the country to understand the utilisation of the victim compensation fund. Of the 19 states/UTS that responded to his RTIs, it was revealed that a total of Rs 544.53 crore was allotted to these 19 states, out of which only Rs 128 crore has been utilised by the various State Legal Services Authorities.
The reason: despite there being scores of cases of trafficking, only 100 applications have been filed from seven states by survivors of sex trafficking. Of this, 55 were made by child sex trafficking survivors. The seven states included West Bengal, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, and Meghalaya.
According to Nisha, who works with an NGO called Sanjog in West Bengal, lack of information on the scheme is the biggest problem. Not everyone knows how it really works. In fact, several lawyers, victims and NGOs don’t even know that such a scheme exists, she says.
“West Bengal is one of the states from where most women are trafficked and yet the number of applications is very poor compared to the number of victims. While every survivor needs support in filing for victim compensation, lawyers, NGOs etc aren’t able to help due to lack of information. They don’t know that a survivor can claim this as a right,” she says.
And even in instances where they may know of the scheme, Nisha says it’s important to understand how to file a watertight application that ensures a survivor gets the most amount of compensation.
If a strong application is made, a victim can receive anywhere from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. For example, a victim of sexual assault is entitled to receive a minimum compensation of Rs 4 lakh, and maximum of Rs 10 lakh, while one of gang rape is entitled to receive up to Rs 10 lakh, with the minimum being Rs 5 lakh.
As per Vipan’s data, out of the 100 applicants, only 30 awards were made, of which 16 were made to minors. Very often, the time taken for compensation to finally reach the hands of a survivor is quite long. It takes at least two years, and in most cases, even longer. This, Vipan says, leads to lack of interest in victims. The process itself deters victims from filing applications.
But Nisha says that knowing there is a financial benefit at the end of the road often becomes a source of strength for women to fight it through. However, it still remains a deterrent for women like Nandini, who gave up on the fight.
Data and graphic: Sanjog India.
Vipan’s data shows that West Bengal, with 28 applications, is the state that has seen most applications for victim compensation, followed by Jharkhand (26) and Karnataka (26). However, in the case of trafficking, often, a victim is trafficked to a different state and comes back to live in a different state, and this also causes problems in applying for compensation.
However, Vipan and Nisha believe that what is most important is having a strong support system to help survivors understand and go through the process. Nandini agrees. She says that for her and the survivors she works with, having support and being in one community together gives them great confidence.
Nandini, who now works with a Guntur-based NGO to help women like her to turn their lives around and ensure children of sex workers aren’t forced into the profession, says, “Our community is looked down upon in society. But when we are together as one community, we have the strength to fight against odds. It has helped a lot of us. We once fought with a government officer who wasn’t accepting a woman’s application for ration card. We know we are there for each other, and that confidence goes a long way fighting it out.”
Nandini says that the main reason she couldn’t go through with her application for victim compensation, was lack of required documents such as Aadhaar, PAN and ration card, among others. “Without enough financial support, many tend to fall back into sex work to be able to feed themselves. We are working to ensure that doesn’t happen,” Nandini says.
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