Relief, Compensation and Rehabilitation

An atrocity usually leaves its victim poorer, injured, frightened and often cut off from work and village. A conviction years later does not feed the family today. So the Act and the Rules give the victim a separate track of relief that starts within seven days and runs alongside the case: cash in instalments tied to the FIR, the charge-sheet and the trial, expenses for every visit to the police or court, and, in the gravest cases, a pension, a job, land, a house and education for the children. This note explains where that right comes from, how the Schedule pays, what rehabilitation covers, how relief sits with court-ordered compensation and the victim compensation schemes, and what the courts do when the State pays late, pays short, or seeks the money back.

Figure 1: Relief across the life of an atrocity case

1. Relief as a Statutory Right

• In the Act. Section 21(2)(iii) requires the State to provide for the economic and social rehabilitation of victims. Section 15A(6)(b) to (d) empowers the Special Court to provide travelling and maintenance expenses, socio-economic rehabilitation and relocation. Section 15A(11) requires a State scheme securing immediate relief, relief for death, injury or damage to property, food, water, clothing, shelter, medical aid, transport, daily allowances and maintenance expenses.
• In the Rules. Rule 12(4) makes it mandatory for the District Magistrate, Sub-Divisional Magistrate or other Executive Magistrate to provide relief in cash, in kind or both within seven days, according to the scale in Annexure I read with Annexure II.
• A right, not a favour. Because the duty is framed in mandatory terms and quantified in the Schedule, High Courts enforce it by writ. In R. Tamizhazhagan v. District Collector (Madras High Court, 2021), the victim of a 2011 attack had received only 6,520 rupees; the court held that he ought to have received 25 per cent of 4,00,000 rupees on registration of the FIR and a further 50 per cent at charge-sheet, and directed payment within four weeks.
• Purposive reading. In K. Shanthi v. District Collector (Madras High Court, 2019), the Collector had refused relief on the ground that the victim, married to a Christian, had followed Christianity. The court found no material of conversion, held that caste is by birth and is not changed by marriage, read the beneficial law purposively, and ordered payment.

2. The Schedule to the Rules

• Forty-seven heads. Annexure I, recast in 2016, lists forty-seven heads with minimum relief from 85,000 rupees to 8,25,000 rupees, up from the earlier range of 75,000 to 7,50,000 rupees. Acid attack entered the Schedule in 2016 itself (item 24); the 2018 amendment added unnatural offences to the rape head (item 44) and widened Rule 12(5).
• Minimum, not maximum. The amounts are the minimum relief for each head. States may pay more.
• Disability. Where the atrocity causes disability, item 43 of Annexure I fixes the relief: 8,25,000 rupees for 100 per cent incapacitation, 4,50,000 rupees for more than 50 per cent, and 2,50,000 rupees below that. The degree of disability is evaluated under Annexure II, which carries the Government's 2001 guidelines for certifying disability.
• Acid attack. 8,25,000 rupees for burns over more than two per cent of the face, impaired function of eye, ear, nose or mouth, or body burns exceeding thirty per cent; 4,15,000 rupees for body burns between ten and thirty per cent; and 85,000 rupees for lesser burns other than on the face. The State also bears the full cost of treatment.

Figure 2: How the Schedule pays: amounts and stages (examples)

3. Staged Financial Assistance

• Immediate relief. Within seven days, in cash or kind, including food, water, clothing, shelter, medical aid and transport (Rule 12(4)). The District Magistrate may be authorised to draw money directly from the treasury so that the relief is not delayed (Rule 12(4A)).
• Relief after FIR. For most offences, 25 per cent of the Schedule amount is paid at the FIR stage. For offences where medical proof is central, the first instalment follows the medical examination: 50 per cent after the medical examination and confirmatory report for rape and gang rape, and 50 per cent after the post-mortem report for murder.
• Relief during investigation. Travel, daily maintenance and diet expenses for every visit to the police, the court or any officer, paid within three days (Rule 11); medical expenses (Rule 11(7)); and socio-economic rehabilitation ordered by the Special Court during investigation, inquiry and trial (Rule 12(4B)).
• Relief after charge-sheet. The next instalment, commonly 50 per cent, is paid when the charge-sheet is sent to court; for rape and gang rape it is 25 per cent; for murder, the remaining 50 per cent.
• Relief after trial or conviction. For many heads, the final 25 per cent is paid when the accused is convicted by the lower court. For rape and gang rape, the last 25 per cent is paid on conclusion of the trial, so it does not depend on conviction. For murder, the full amount is paid by the charge-sheet stage. The Schedule must be read head by head.

4. Immediate Needs: Medical Aid, Food, Clothing, Shelter and Transport

• Medical assistance. Medical aid is part of immediate relief (Rule 12(4)). On a Section 3 offence, the District Magistrate reimburses medicines, special medical consultation, blood transfusion, replacement of essential clothing, meals and fruits (Rule 11(7)). Under the general law, every hospital must give free first aid or treatment to victims of rape and acid attack (Section 397 BNSS, formerly Section 357C CrPC).
• Food and clothing. Food, water and clothing are part of immediate relief. In grave cases, the family also receives rice, wheat, pulses and utensils for three months (Schedule item 46).
• Shelter. Shelter is part of immediate relief. Where a house is burnt or destroyed, a brick or stone masonry house is built or provided at Government cost (item 47).
• Transport. Transport facilities are part of immediate relief, and Rule 11 pays rail, bus or taxi fare for visits to the place of investigation, hearing or trial, with an attendant for women, minors, persons over sixty and persons with forty per cent or more disability.

5. Rehabilitation in Grave Cases

Figure 3: Rehabilitation: what the victim’s family can claim beyond cash

• Item 46. For murder, death, massacre, rape, gang rape, permanent incapacitation and dacoity, additional relief may be arranged within three months of the atrocity, and courts enforce it as an entitlement.
• Pension. A basic pension of 5,000 rupees a month to the widow or other dependants, as applicable to a Government servant, with admissible dearness allowance.
• Employment assistance. Employment to one member of the family of the deceased victim. In Kalimuthu v. Secretary (Madras High Court, 2023), the court directed employment for the deceased's sister within twelve weeks, holding that the Rules mandate a pension along with employment.
• Housing and agricultural land. Agricultural land and a house, if necessary by outright purchase. The contingency plan under Rule 15 must also provide for allotment of agricultural land and house sites and for brick or stone masonry houses.
• Education of dependants. Full cost of education up to graduation and maintenance of the victims' children, including admission to fully funded ashram or residential schools (item 46(ii)).
• The contingency plan. Rule 15 requires each State to frame, implement and notify a contingency plan with a relief and rehabilitation package, including Government employment for a dependant, pensions for widows, dependent children and disabled or old victims, and mandatory compensation.

6. Relocation, Legal Aid and Witness Expenses

• Victim relocation. The Special Court shall provide relocation to a victim, dependant, informant or witness where needed (Section 15A(6)(d)). Relocation is also a measure under the Witness Protection Scheme, 2018 (Topic 45).
• Legal aid. Section 21(2)(i) requires legal aid to enable victims to avail themselves of justice, and Section 15A(11)(m) requires adequate briefing on the case and preparation for trial, with legal aid for that purpose. Under Rule 4(5), the District Magistrate may engage an eminent senior advocate if the victim so desires.
• Witness expenses. Victims, dependants and witnesses get fares, daily maintenance at not less than the minimum wage for agricultural labourers, and diet expenses, paid immediately and within three days (Rule 11; Section 21(2)(ii)).

7. Relief and Other Compensation

Figure 4: Three routes to money for an atrocity victim

• Relief is independent. Relief in respect of death, injury, rape, gang rape, unnatural offences, acid attack or damage to property is in addition to any other right to claim compensation under any other law (Rule 12(5), as amended in 2018).
• Compensation under general criminal procedure. On conviction, the court may order the accused to pay compensation to the victim (Section 395 BNSS, formerly Section 357 CrPC). Courts must consider this in every case (Ankush Shivaji Gaikwad v. State of Maharashtra, 2013).
• Victim compensation scheme. The State scheme under Section 396 BNSS (formerly Section 357A CrPC), run by the Legal Services Authorities, pays compensation even where the offender is not traced or is acquitted, and allows interim relief (Suresh v. State of Haryana, 2015).
• The difference. Relief under the Rules is a fixed, staged entitlement triggered by the atrocity case and paid by the District Magistrate. Scheme compensation is assessed by the Legal Services Authority on the facts of the harm. Court compensation depends on conviction and the accused's means.

Double compensation and adjustment

• The Rules do not deduct. Rule 12(5) says relief is in addition to other compensation. Nothing in the Rules requires the District Magistrate to deduct scheme or court compensation.
• Schemes may take other receipts into account. The NALSA Compensation Scheme for Women Victims/Survivors of Sexual Assault/Other Crimes, 2018 allows claims under other schemes, but directs that certain compensation received under them be taken into account in fixing the amount. State schemes vary, so the applicable scheme must be read.
• No settled ruling. There is no reported Supreme Court ruling on adjusting atrocity relief against scheme or motor accident awards. The safe position is that relief under the Rules is not reduced, while another scheme may consider it.

8. Delayed Relief and Government Liability

• The Special Court's power. A report of the relief given goes to the Special Court. If the court finds that relief was not paid in time, was insufficient, or was paid only in part, it may order payment in full or in part, or any other kind of assistance (Rule 12(7)).
• An active check. In Arvind Kumar v. State of U.P. (Allahabad High Court, September 2026), the Special Judge had refused applications for the balance of relief, holding that it could not adjust the amount. The High Court set this aside, holding that Rule 12(7) makes the Special Court a judicial check against under-payment, delayed payment or arbitrary curtailment. On the facts, where an advocate's family had drawn over 23 lakh rupees across many cases, it also ordered an inquiry into misuse.
• Writ remedies. High Courts direct District Collectors to pay unpaid instalments with time limits (R. Tamizhazhagan, 2021; K. Shanthi, 2019).
• Accountability. The State must budget for relief (Rule 14(1)) and review relief and rehabilitation twice a year (Rule 14(2)); the nodal officer, the Special Officer and the vigilance committees review it (Rules 9, 10, 16 and 17). Wilful neglect of a duty under the Act or the Rules by a public servant who is not a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe member can attract Section 4(1) read with Section 4(2)(g).
• NCDHR. In National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights v. Union of India, (2017) 2 SCC 432, decided on 15 December 2016, the Supreme Court directed strict enforcement of the Act and asked NALSA to frame schemes for awareness and legal aid.

9. Settlement, Hostility and Return of Relief

• Delhi. Where an FIR was quashed on settlement, the Delhi High Court observed that relief is intrinsically linked to the continuation of the proceedings and should ideally be returned (Balbir Meena v. State (NCT of Delhi), 2024).
• Madhya Pradesh. The Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that a victim who turned hostile, leading to acquittal, is not entitled to further relief, observing that the amount already paid may be recoverable (Victim X v. State of M.P., 2025). In a 2026 case, it made release of 75 per cent of the relief in a tribal rape case conditional on an undertaking not to compromise or turn hostile.
• Allahabad. The Allahabad High Court has required refund of relief as a condition of quashing on compromise (Satish v. State of U.P., 2021; Jhabbu Dubey v. State of U.P., 2023). A single judge's view that relief should be paid only on conviction (Israr v. State of U.P., 2022) is difficult to reconcile with the staged scheme of the Rules.

10. Quick Revision and Memory Aids

• 'Seven, three, three'. Relief within seven days; expenses within three days; item 46 rehabilitation within three months.
• 'Twenty-five, fifty, twenty-five'. The common split: FIR, charge-sheet, conviction.
• 'Medical first for rape; post-mortem first for murder'. 50 per cent at the first medical or post-mortem stage.
• 'PELEP'. Item 46: Pension, Employment, Land and house, Education, Provisions.
• 'In addition, not instead'. Rule 12(5).
• 'Late, short, partial'. The three failures the Special Court can correct under Rule 12(7).

11. Frequently Asked Questions

Must the victim wait for conviction to get relief?

No. Immediate relief is due within seven days, and most of the Schedule amount is paid at the FIR or medical stage and at charge-sheet.

Does receiving relief bar a claim under the victim compensation scheme?

No. Relief is in addition to other compensation (Rule 12(5)), though the scheme may take other receipts into account in fixing its own amount.

Who can order payment if the Collector delays relief?

The Special Court under Rule 12(7), and the High Court in its writ jurisdiction.

Are pension and employment alternatives?

No. The Allahabad High Court has held that the parts of item 46(i) apply disjunctively: each is an independent entitlement, and a family member's claim to employment does not depend on the pension or the land.

Can relief be recovered if the case is settled?

Several High Courts have required or observed that it should be returned where proceedings end on settlement or hostility. There is no Supreme Court ruling on the point.

12. Related Topics and Provisions

• Topic 32: Section 15A. Relief, rehabilitation and relocation as victims' rights.
• Topic 37: Section 21. The State's duty of rehabilitation and legal aid.
• Topic 39: Rules, 1995. Rules 11, 12 and 15 and the Schedule.
• Topic 45: Protection of Witnesses and Victims. Relocation and protection.
• Sections 15A, 21; Rules 11, 12, 14, 15; Annexures I and II; Sections 395 to 397 BNSS. The provisions discussed.