INTRODUCTION
Whenever we talk about the criminal justice system, we often come across its primary purpose of ensuring that JUSTICE IS BEING SERVED. No country can ever progress if its citizens don’t believe in the judicial system, hence, to provide them with a sense of security and to hold offenders accountable is what makes the judicial system of a country efficient and reliable. But for a very long time, we have come across this criminal justice system being tilted towards the accused. All the policies, reforms, and committees have been centred toward the criminals rather than the victims, it has gone to such an extent to protect the rights of the accused and to ensure the principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ that it has somewhat become negligent towards the victims and the sufferings they and their families face.
As a solution to this, a committee was constituted namely ‘Committee for reforms in Criminal Law’ which proposed the introduction of a ‘Victim Impact Statement’ in a trial before the sentencing stage takes place. This would help establish the physical, emotional, and financial impact that the victim must go through, this VIS could either be oral or written depending on the choice of the victim.
IDEA BEHIND VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT
This would give the victims a chance to articulate the effects the crime has had on them. The psychological and emotional turmoil that a crime inflicts on a person could be dreadful in the long run. Crucially, it plays a significant part in humanizing the victim. This would also help the court to establish the graveness of the crime and can prescribe the punishment accordingly. Therefore, it is overdue to shift from a focus on the criminal to prioritizing the victim. The Victim Impact Statement (VIS) was first introduced at the United Nations and was constitutionally validated in the US Supreme Court’s decision in Payne v Tennessee[1]. Subsequently, multiple jurisdictions like Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom have embraced this approach.
POSITION OF VICTIMS IN INDIA
In India, a Victim can be defined in section 2(a) of CRPC[2] which defines a victim as ‘a person who has suffered any loss or injury caused as a reason of the act or omission for which the accused person has been charged’ and the term “victim” encompasses their guardian or legal heir. When a victim is treated as a witness rather than acknowledged as a victim during the trial, it diminishes the significance of their plight and suffering. As rightly said by Justice Krishna Iyer, “It’s a weakness of our jurisprudence that victims of crime and the distress of the dependents of the victim do not attract the attention of the law. Victim reparation is still the vanishing point of our criminal law. This is the deficiency in the system, which must be rectified by the legislature”[3]. Hence, the need of the hour is the inclusion of a Victim Impact Statement.
In the case of Ajay Pandit @Jagadish Dayabhai v State of Maharashtra[4], the court while sentencing the accused in the double murder case, took a view of Sec 235 of the CRPC which deals with the judgment of acquittal or conviction, clause 2 that is, Sec 235(2) says that “if the accused is convicted, the judge shall, unless he proceeds per the provisions of section 360, hear the accused on the question of sentence and then pass sentence on him according to law”. Throughout this entire process, the courts tend to overlook the hardships experienced by the victims, hence, to avoid this, the concept of a victim impact statement came as a rescue to provide victims with the justice they deserve. The Supreme Court in a recent case of Mallikarjun Kodagil v State of Karnataka[5] also came across the lack of support that the victims get in the entire process. For this reason, it laid a huge emphasis on the significance of the addition of a Victim Impact Statement to ensure that justice is being served appropriately. Subsequently, several jurisdictions are now adopting the incorporation of Victim Impact Statements into their criminal justice systems.
INITIATIVES TAKEN TOWARD VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT
Currently, India lacks a consistent compensation policy. The Central Victim Compensation Fund represents a modest initiative addressing financial compensation for victims of rape, acid attacks, and diverse offences. Consequently, it is imperative to establish a comprehensive framework for victim impact statements to safeguard the rights of victims.
In a recent case of Karan v NCT of Delhi,[6] the Delhi high court held that ‘Filing of the victim impact reports should be made mandatory and courts shall order the accused to pay compensation to the victim, especially in cases where fine does not form a part of the sentence. The Victim Impact report must be processed through the District Legal Services Authorities to verify the impact of the crime victimization on the victims and the payment capacity of the offender’. The VS Malimath Committee and 268th Law Commission Report of India recommended the victim’s right to participate in the grant or cancellation of bail and suggested Victim Impact Assessment in bail matters[7].
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
It is also a matter of great concern that the VIS might create a partial approach in the minds of the judges which would lead them to neglect the position of the accused in the matter. Hence, disparity and discrimination could take place. The Victim Impact Statement appears to be a tool driven by a desire for revenge. Embracing it could tarnish the judicial system, while rejecting it may lead to a hostile response.
CONCLUSION
The Indian legal system, following the principle of ex aequo et bono, delivers justice to the individuals. But that has been misused for a long time, as somewhere neglect the victims, the pain they go through, and their rights, it is very important to have an approach to understand the victim’s position in a particular case. The Introduction of a victim impact statement would be a revolutionary step for India’s judicial system.
Author(s) Name: Shivangi Dwivedi (Campus Law Centre, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi)
References:
[1] Payne v Tennessee, (1991) 501 U.S 808
[2] Code of Criminal Procedure 1973, s 2
[3] Naman Singla ‘An Analysis On The Effect Of A Victim Impact Statement On Criminal Justice System’ < https://www.thelegalvidya.in/an-analysis-on-the-effect-of-a-victim-impact-statement-on-criminal-justice-system > accessed 06 November 2023
[4] Ajay Pandit @ Jagdish Dayabhai Patel v. State of Maharashtra, (2012) 8 SCC 43
[5] Mallikarjun Kodagali through Lrs V State of Karnataka and ors., (2018) SC 5206
[6] Karan v. State NCT of Delhi, (2020) DLT 352.
[7] REVITALISING INDIAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM < https://www.drishtiias.com/printpdf/revitalising-indiancriminal-justice-system > accessed 06 November 23
