BENGALURU: Directing lower courts to provide victim-oriented justice by awarding appropriate compensation to victims, the Karnataka High Court issued certain guidelines to them and public prosecutors across Karnataka to ensure appropriate compensation to victims or their dependants suffering loss or injury due to crime.
The division bench of Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice HP Sandesh said compensation should be proportionate to the gravity of the offence. “While imposing punishment, courts should not only keep in view the rights of criminals, but also rights of victims and society at large,” the division bench said.
With this observation, the HC directed the trial courts to keep in mind the gravity of the offences, nature of injuries and the amount spent for treatment.
The HC said trial courts should consider the capability of the accused to pay the fine. “If the accused is capable of paying the fine amount, order for appropriate fine and compensation. If the accused is not capable of paying the fine, then direct the District Legal Services Authority to pay appropriate compensation with the corpus created by the state government,” it said.
The HC issued this direction while allowing an appeal filed by the state and set aside the judgment dated Febraury 14, 2013 passed by the appellate court, which acquitted the accused Vishwanatha Devadiga and Bhavani Devadiga, residing at Kempaje Paper Mill, Hosabettu village in Mangaluru Taluk.
As the trial court failed to award compensation in this case, the HC directed the convicted persons to pay fine of Rs 55,000 each, as against only Rs 1,000 awarded by the trial court. However, the High Court reduced the sentence to six months from two years.
HC seeks state’s response on KC Valley project’s study
The Karnataka HC on Wednesday asked the state to submit its response with regard to the assessment of KC Valley project by National Environmental Engineering Research Institute. The division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Mohammad Nawaz issued the direction during the hearing of PIL petition filed by one R Anjaneya Reddy questioning the KC Valley project which was expected to supply treated water from the city to Kolar and Chikkaballapur district to recharge the lakes.