Bombay High Court orders compensation for acid attack survivor Aarti Thakur
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Aarti Thakur vs. The State of Maharashtra & Ors. (Writ Petition No. 4267 of 2014)
Aarti Thakur is the survivor of a gruesome acid attack that occurred in January, 2011. Aarti was stalked and attacked by the accused on two occasions prior to the acid attack. She approached the Vakola police station on both prior occasions but the police refused to take any action.
On January, 2011, the accused threw acid on Aarti near Borivali Station. Aarti suffered 14% burns. The petition was filed seeking compensation from the state government under the Manodhairya Scheme, 2013.
The stand of the state government was that Aarti was not eligible under the scheme as the cut off date for receiving compensation was October, 2013, the incident occurred in January, 2011.
The Court held that the cut-off date was arbitrary and contrary to the directions given by the Supreme Court in the case of Laxmi v. Union of India. The Court therefore directed the state government to pay Rs 3 lakhs to Aarti under the Manodhairya Scheme, and also to reimburse her for all surgeries and medical expenses she incurred, which amount to Rs 3.5 lakhs.