10 Judgements That Changed India by Zia Mody

Author:Zia Mody [Mody, Zia]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, pdf
ISBN: 9788184759532
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2013-08-15T04:00:00+00:00

Compensation with Caution

Despite the dozens of cases that have acknowledged the right to award compensation in public law proceedings, courts still tread cautiously in cases where petitioners seek compensation for the violation of fundamental rights. Firstly, compensation can only be awarded for violation of the right to life under Article 21—no other fundamental right.46 Moreover, not every violation of the right to life justifies compensation—only violations that shock the court’s conscience.47 Finally, even when the state seriously violates the right to life, compensation can be denied if the petitioner falsifies or exaggerates claims.48

When the Supreme Court, in the case of Sube Singh v. State of Haryana,49 heard an unsubstantiated claim of illegal detention and torture by the police of a man instead of his son (the accused), despite the fact that the father denied all knowledge of his son’s whereabouts, the Supreme Court took the opportunity to define the range of cases where compensation would be awarded on an allegation of custodial torture.50 It specified three questions that any court must pose when debating whether or not to grant compensation for the violation of fundamental rights:51

Was the violation of the right to life patent and incontrovertible?

Was the violation gross and of a magnitude to shock the court’s conscience?

Did the custodial torture allegedly result in death or was the custodial torture supported by a medical report or visible marks or scars or disability?

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