Agartala: A court in Tripura on August 23 asked the government of the northeastern Indian state to financially help the family of a convicted person.
The family members are not at all responsible for the crimes committed by the convicts, said the Additional Sessions Judge of West Tripura Goutam Sarkar.
The court said the state government needs to take care of the victimized family of those convicted of any crime.
The judge regretted that no law exists to compensate the family members of a convicted person.
But in most of the cases when a wage earner of the family is convicted for any crime by court of law, his or her family has to suffer without any of their involvement in the particular crime, the judge said.
The court was dealing with a murder case. Buddha Debbarma of Guliraibari village in West Tripura was killed in January 2016 by his elder brother Jyotish in a family dispute.
Buddha’s wife Ratna registered a murder case against Jyotish and got him arrested. The additional sessions Judge sentenced Jyotish to five years of hard labor and fined him 10,000 rupees.
However, a plea from the convict has attracted the attention of the court, which appeared to be unusual in nature and logically sympathetic towards the convicted family.
Jyotish was the only bread winner of his family comprising his wife, four minor children and ailing mother of 101 years old. They faced poverty after his arrest and his conviction has threatened their survival.
In the 38-page judgement the judge Sarkar mentioned that it is the responsibility of the state to secure the life and liberty of the citizens who are victim of the situation.
He asked the District Legal Services Authority to provide financial assistance to the family of the convicted person who are not involved with the crime in any way.
(Source: thenortheastindiatoday.com)