Cuttack, July 4: Even after eleven weeks, Shibani’s parents are yet to receive the Rs 4lakh compensation from the state government for the rape and murder of their daughter by a teacher in her school.
Holding the state liable for the act committed by its employee (teacher) during duty hours and on the school premises, Orissa High Court had directed the commissioner-cum-secretary of the school and mass education department to pay the compensation to her parents within four weeks.
Shibani was a 12-year-old student of Class VII at the Government Project U.P. School, Nimina, in Ganjam district.
“Keeping in view the factual background of the case and the future prospect of the deceased girl as well as her prospective loss of earning to the family, we are of the opinion that a consolidated compensation of Rs 4 lakh should be paid to the parents of the deceased girl, who became victim of such a gruesome murder,” the division bench of Chief Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice B.N. Mohapatra had ordered on April 11 on a petition filed by her father Biranchi Narayan Sahu.
“Though the stipulated four weeks time for the payment of compensation has elapsed, the high court order has not been complied with till date,” petitioner counsel Prabir Kumar Das told The Telegraph today.
“In the case, the state government not only has legal obligation to comply with the court order but a moral obligation too,” Das said.
Shibani was found dead inside the toilet of the school with bleeding injuries in her private parts around 11.30am on September 30, 2008. On July 27, 2010, the court of the sessions judge, Ganjam-Gajapati, in Berhampur, convicted Santha Charan Pattanaik, a teacher of the school, and sentenced him to undergo concurrently a life imprisonment and seven years of rigorous imprisonment for murder and rape respectively.
“School is a temple of learning. It is the prime duty of the state to appoint persons of high moral characters as teachers in the schools. The state is also liable to protect the life of the children studying in the schools and ensure their education with dignity. Since the heinous, barbaric and inhuman act has been committed by the teacher of a government school, the state is liable for wrong done by its teacher,” the high court had ruled.