Sexual Assault Of Minor Girls At 'Fake' NCC Camp | Madras High Court Directs State To Make Ex-Gratia Payment To Victims

The bench of Acting Chief Justice D Krishnakumar and Justice PB Balaji was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Advocate AP Suryaprakasam seeking a CBI inquiry into the case. The directed the State to make the ex-gratia payments to the credit of the Mahila Court which had already granted interim compensation from the Victim compensation scheme of the Government.

The court ordered a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh each to two minor girls who were subjected to penetrative sexual assault and Rs 1 lakh each to the other victim girls. The court added that it was upon the state to recover these amounts from the schools that had allowed the fake camps to be conducted.

When the matter was taken up on Thursday, the Advocate General orally requested the court to have an in-camera proceedings as the State had to share details of the sexual assault committed upon the students. Advocate AP Suryaprakasam, however, objected to this request and said that even the Supreme Court had refused such a request put forward by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal while hearing the suo motu RG Kar case.

When the state requested again, the court asked the State to give the details in a sealed cover which it shall look into and then see if the proceedings needed to be conducted in-camera.

During the course of the hearing, the state also informed the court that the state has passed a Government Order appointing a special officer to look into the administration of the schools following the recommendation of the District Education Officer (DEO).

The state also informed the court that 3 FIRs had been registered in connection with the case and 20 arrests have been made. The court was informed that 712 students were examined and 212 statement were examined under Section 180(3). The state also informed that the medical examination of the two victims girls had also been conducted.

The State further informed that financial investigation was also being conducted into the 36 bank accounts of the 15 accused and their connected persons. It was also said that the CPU, monitor, hard disk, DVD, Cellphones etc that were recovered during the investigation were sent to forensic examination and the FSL report was being awaited.

Noting the submission, the court directed the State to make the exgratia payments within two weeks and adjourned the case to September 30.

Case Title: AP Suryaprakasam v State of Tamil Nadu and Others

Case No: 25034 of 2024