Seen as ‘blood money’, Tihar welfare fund shunned
This welfare fund has found few takers in the past eight years.
Of the Rs 13.5 crore earmarked for the victims of crimes committed by convicted prisoners, only around 5% of the money has been disbursed so far. Tihar Jail officials have built this corpus by deducting 25% of daily wages earned by all convicts. While jail officials continue to deduct the money from the prisoners’ wages every day, they have given out only around Rs 64 lakh(4.74%) till date.
The problem, jail officials say, is finding victims or their families. And if they find victims, it is difficult to convince them to take the money because most families the officials approach refuse to take the compensation because they see it as “blood money”.
The idea was born in 2010. The plan was to award a sort of compensation to rape survivors, families who have lost their bread earners to murder and other such cases. The money is saved in the bank account of a jail superintendent.
A convict, working as a skilled worker such as carpenter, tailor or painter, earns a maximum of Rs 321 every day. There are at least 2,800 convicts among the 15,000 prisoners in Tihar.
Director general (prisons), Ajay Kashyap, said the prison authorities have written to the government to change some parameters to ensure that officials can get to more victims and offer them the money.
NEWDELHI: