Victim Compensation Laws In India: The Visible Fault Lines

Hari Kishan, Baba Mast Nath University, Rohtak, Haryana (India)

ABSTRACT

Though the concept of victim compensation qua India is historical as Manusmriti in Chapter VIII verse 287 says that if limb is injured, the assailant shall be made to pay the expense of the cure. But in modern India, the laws of compensation to victims are at nascent stage and developed only in last decade. Under Indian legal frame work, though lately, but legislation recognized that victim support and compensation for injuries is an integral part of right to life under Article 21 of Indian Constitution and introduced a statutory mechanism for grant of compensation to victim by incorporating section 357A to the Code of Criminal Procedure Code 1973. The cumbersome process, inherent technicalities, red tapism, corruption, lack of awareness about rights in victims and social and peer pressure on victims not to report the crime are some of the fundamental reasons due to which compensatory schemes failed to adopt the victim centric approach. The present paper analyses the prevalent laws for victim compensation in India with apparent loopholes and emphasizes the need towards the development of a system which cares the core concern of victims.

Keywords: Compensation, Victims, DLSA, Hostile, India.