ORDER :

1. The power and jurisdiction of the Kerala State Legal Services Authority (KeLSA)/District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to award compensation to the victims under the Kerala Victim Compensation Scheme, 2017(As amended in 2021), without the recommendation from the Court falls for consideration in these petitions filed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (for short Cr.P.C.).

Facts briefly

2. Two sexual assault victims who suffered adverse orders at the hands of KeLSA rejecting their applications for victim compensation are the petitioners.

3. The petitioner in Crl. M.C. No. 3531/2022 was the victim in SC No. 1232/2017 on the file of the First Additional Sessions Court, Kollam. The accused was none other than her father. The offences alleged were under Sections 376 of IPC, Sections 3(b), 4, 5 (i) r/w 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (for short, POCSO Act) and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act (for short, the JJ Act). The allegation was that the accused sexually assaulted the victim, aged 4½ years, by inserting his finger and buds into her anus on many occasions prior to 11/7/2017 at