VICTIM COMPENSATION

Adv. Mandar Lotlikar1

Abstract
Supreme Court of India recently observed that no compensation can be adequate nor can it be
of any respite for the victim but as the State has failed in protecting such serious violation of
a victims fundamental right, the State is duly bound to provide compensation, which may
help in the victims rehabilitation. The humiliation or the reputation that is snuffed out cannot
be recompensed but then monetary compensation will at least provide some solace.

Introduction
In every civilized country, a criminal commits
At times, infliction of pain to offenders in the form of physical punishment for loss or
injury caused by their deliberations to victims may not alone be satisfactory.
The supposition that evil should be returned with evil might have had some relevance in the
past, but with the course of changing times, it has become meaningless today. Therefore, a
need was realized to evolve a completely different approach to punishing the offender. This
approach warrants some justification for its being victim-centered and not concerned
exclusively with the rights of offenders. In a way, this victim-centered-approach tries to
question the underlying objective behind criminal justice system where victims get nothing
out of the ongoing Court process except for the implied satisfaction that the persons who
had inflicted pain on them are sentenced to adequate penalty in form of imprisonment. In an
institution where there is a self-styled presumption of the suspects being the innocent person,
it requires a certain degree of consideration to balance the powers and privileges of
competing parties to obtain an outcome that is just, fair, and equitable. However, especially in
the Indian Courts of equity, given the liberal construction of penal statutes coupled with
compulsive judicial presumption towards innocence, the offenders get the benefit of doubt
1 *The writer is a practising advocate and a student of S.Y.LL.M. at G.R. Kare
College of Law, Margao Goa.

and have, in a majority of trials, an overwhelming likelihood of evading conviction for lack
of substantive evidence against conviction. Alongside, the right to speedy trial and legal aid
helps the accused in getting prompt case disposal whereas the victim suffers from the vice of
delay and procedural impropriety. This is precisely where the appreciation of a
compensation conscious criminal justice delivery system arises which, if incorporated in
the judicial thinking has the potential to produce long term benefits to victims of crime and
violence in the pursuit of their long term self-interests. The author while conceding to the fact
that deterrence and retribution may seem effective in discouraging criminal behaviour,
attempts to posit through comparative legislations that active incorporation of compensatory
jurisprudence is a better alternative to other theories of punishment in that it not only imposes
adequate penalty in form of compensation but also, as a logical corollary, assists victims of
crime to overcome their financial constraints. This becomes more important when a crime is
committed against the poor, women, elderly, and persons who are physically or mentally
handicapped.

VICTIMOLOGY
Victimology is a branch of criminology that studies victims, survivors and their relationships
with the people who victimized them. It scientifically examines the degrees of suffering
caused by offenders. Victimology researchers investigate the physical, emotional and
financial impact of crime.
Concept of crime is intimately linked with the existence of the victim. When a crime takes
place, a large number of factors combine and both the offender and the victim get involved in
more ways than one. It is therefore, hardly justifiable to pay attention only to the offender and
bypass the existence of the victim. The occurrence of an offence is viewed as a human
phenomenon in which social concern should be not only with the bringing of the offender to
book and the maintenance of law and order in society, but also with the victim who has
immediately borne the brunt as a result of the offence.2

EVOLTUION OF VICTIMOLOGY
In ancient period, criminal law was victim oriented and they enjoyed the dominant position in
entire criminal legal system with certain short comings. Even certain trees and animals were
2 Criminology, Penology and Victimology, Rabindra K Mohanty & Satyajit
Mohanty, 1st Edition 2015, Himalaya Publishing House (Hyderabad)

considered sacred and cutting and killing them were considered heinous sin and criminal had
to pay heavy compensation and undergo rigorous punishment. Thats why Stephen Schafer
calls it Golden Age of victims.
Subsequently in 16th and 17th century, with the advent of the industrial revolution, renaissance
and French revolution, a sea change was noticed in every walk of lifes. This gave birth to
Adversarial System. This was the period, in Stephen Scafers terminology, of decline in
victims role in criminal justice system. Now the criminal law became offender oriented and
the suffering of victim, often immeasurable, were entirely overlooked in misplaced sympathy
for the criminal. The victim became the forgotten men of our criminal justice system.
It was in 20th century, after the close of the World War II that some criminologists took upon
themselves, the task of understanding the importance of studying the criminal-victim
relationship, in order to obtain a better understanding of crime, its origin and implication.
Because of their efforts, U.N passed a charter for victims right and on similar line the
European convention on the compensation of victims of violent crime. Therefore many states
of Europe and America enacted their legislations for victim compensation in criminal justice
system. Therefore, victims movement has been regaining momentum in whole world but
with different shapes and nature.
Evolution of Victimology in India
At present, a crime victim or a complainant is only a witness for the prosecution. Whereas the
accused has several rights, the victim has no right to protect his or her interest during criminal
proceedings. Sometimes, even the registering of a criminal case in the police station depends
upon the mercy of the police officer. Victims suffer injustice silently and in extreme cases,
take the law into their own hands and seek revenge on the offender. Though no separate law
for victims of crime has yet been enacted in India, the silver lining is that victim justice has
been rendered through affirmative action and orders of the apex court. Besides, many
National level Commissions and Committees have strongly advocated victims rights and
reiterated the need for a victims law. Studies on crime victims by researchers started in India
only during the late 1970s. Early studies were on victims of dacoit gangs (i.e. gangs of armed
robbers) in the Chambal valley (Singh, 1978); victims of homicide (Rajan & Krishna, 1981);
and victims of motor vehicles accidents (Khan & Krishna, 1981). Singh and Jatar (1980)
studied whether compensation paid to victims of dacoits in Chambal Valley was satisfactory

or not. Since the 1980s, many scholars have conducted studies in Victimology, which have
been published.3

CONCEPT OF VICTIMOLOGY
Definitions:
Victim: Victim means natural person who, individually or collectively, have suffered
harm including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering or economic loss or
violations of fundamental rights.
A person is a victim regardless of whether the crime is reported to the police,
regardless of whether a perpetrator is identified, apprehended, prosecuted or
convicted, and regardless of the familial relationship between perpetrator and the
victim.
Definition of victim under Victims Rights Act means:
A person against whom an offence is committed by another person;
A person who, through, or by means of an offence committed by another
person, suffers physical injury, or loss of, or damage to, property;
A parent or legal guardian of a child, or of a young person; and
A member of the immediate family of a person who, as a result of an offence
committed by another person, dies or is capable, unless that member is
charged with the commission of, or convicted or found guilty of, or pleads
guilty to, the offence concerned.

3 MEASURES FOR CRIME VICTIMS IN THE INDIAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM- Kumaravelu
Chockalingamhttp://www.unafei.or.jp/english/pdf/RS_No81/No81_11VE_Chockalingam.pdf