Victim Compensation Jurisprudence In India: Judicial Creativity, Statutory Gaps, And The Road To Reform
- IJLLR Journal
- 2 days ago
- 1 min read
Rohini, LLM, University School of Law, Rayat Bahra University, Mohali
Parul Singh Chauhan, Assistant Professor, University School of Law, Rayat Bahra University, Mohali
ABSTRACT
The Indian criminal justice system has historically placed the victim at the margins of a process designed, ostensibly, to address the harm caused to victims. While the offender occupies the centre of the criminal process with procedural rights, constitutional safeguards, and institutional attention, the victim has remained what Justice Krishna Iyer memorably described as "the vanishing point of Indian criminal law." This paper undertakes a focused analysis of victim compensation jurisprudence in India, examining the statutory framework under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC), the transformative introduction of Section 357A, and the provisions of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS). It analyses how the Supreme Court of India, through a series of landmark decisions spanning four decades, has developed compensation jurisprudence under constitutional principles and constructed a victim-centric jurisprudence in the absence of comprehensive legislative support. The paper identifies persistent structural gaps including inadequacy of compensation amounts, lack of uniformity across States, delays in disbursement, and the continued dependency on judicial discretion. By referring to comparative perspectives, the paper proposes institutional and legislative reforms and highlights the need for a dedicated Victim Rights Act to bring India's criminal justice system into alignment with constitutional values and international standards.
Keywords: Victim Compensation, Section 357A CrPC, BNSS 2023, Compensatory Jurisprudence, Article 21, Victim Rights, Criminal Justice Reform, Secondary Victimisation, Judicial Activism, Victim Rights Act.
