Compensation not a substitute for punishment to culprits: Omar

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said compensation revised by the state government to victims of violence, including rape and acid attacks, were not a substitute for punishment to perpetrators.
".. It's no one's case that this is a substitute for the culprit being punished. The law will follow its own course as was the case earlier," Omar wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter.
He was responding to criticism of the state government's recent revision of compensation rates for victims of violence including cases of death, disability, rape and human trafficking.
"It never ceases to amaze me how a perfectly good initiative taken by a Government can be twisted and misrepresented to suit an editorial line," he said, referring to editorials criticising the move.

Omar said the state government had only made a provision that victims of violence, including rape and acid attacks, get compensation.
"Anyone who believes that violence doesn't exist is living in fool's paradise. So what's wrong with ensuring compensation to the victims?" he asked.
The state cabinet, during a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister on Friday, had approved the revised and enhanced compensation for victims of violence, mainly focusing on women and children.