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Society India20. March 2020

Give Trafficking Survivors Full Access to Their Money, Rules High Court

The Calcutta High Court in India is helping trafficking survivors fully access the money they’re owed to rebuild their lives: in a first, they’ve ordered the state of West Bengal to give victims their entitled compensation without any pre-conditions.

Under 1% of the nation’s trafficking survivors win victim compensation, and West Bengal’s policy makes the survivors put their compensation in a ten-year bank scheme, forcing them to access no more than the monthly interest payments. But now, the high court has overturned this policy.

“The court has empowered survivors,” says policy advocate Kaushik Gupta, who represented the victims in court. “The state had a very patriarchal and parental approach towards an adult citizen. Survivors should be given financial guidance but their money should not be controlled.”

The court called on state authorities to end their “big brother” approach and give victims the already “meager” amount of money which “ought not to be further fettered”.

Source:
Thomson Reuters Foundation

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