SC To Hear Plea On Hate Crime Compensation On April 23
The Supreme Court will on April 23 hear a plea filed by the Indian Muslim for Progress and Reforms seeking uniform compensation for victims of hate crimes and mob lynching across India.
New Delhi:The Supreme Court will on April 23 hear a plea filed by the Indian Muslim for Progress and Reforms seeking uniform compensation for victims of hate crimes and mob lynching across India. A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Augustine George Masih will examine whether states and Union Territories have implemented relief schemes in line with the Court’s 2018 Tehseen Poonawala judgment.
In April 2023, the apex court directed the Centre, all states and UTs to file affidavits detailing steps taken to frame compensation schemes for families of lynching victims. During that hearing, petitioners’ counsel argued that although some states have adopted relief measures, there is no nationwide consistency and many jurisdictions still lack any formal scheme.
The petition contends that the present ad hoc practice of ex gratia payments—determined by factors such as media coverage, political considerations and the victim’s religious identity—breaches Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution. It calls for a binding direction requiring every state and UT to enact a uniform framework ensuring “just, fair and reasonable” compensation, regardless of the victim’s background.
Highlighting what it terms a “whimsical, discriminatory and arbitrary” approach, the plea points out that victims from minority communities often receive substantially lower amounts than those from other groups, even when suffering comparable losses.
When the matter returns on April 23, the Court is expected to review the affidavits filed by the Centre and individual states, and to set a definitive timeline for implementation of a uniform compensation policy.
