INRODUCTION

Criminal Law refers toA body of rules and statutes that defines conduct prohibited by the government because it threat
ens and harms public safety and welfare andthat establishes punishment to be imposed for the co
mmission of such acts.
Many jurists have defined crime in their own ways some of which are as under:
Blackstone has defined crime as an act committed or omitted in violation of a public law either
forbidding or commanding it.
Oxford Dictionary defines crime as an act punishable by law by statute or injurious to public
welfare.
Victim of Crime
Indian legislature has not bothered to define "Victim of Crime" under any law and probably the
Indian Judiciary is also on the same footing. The etymological meaning of phrase suggests that it
would mean or will encompass:

Anyone suffering physical, emotional or financial harm as a direct result of a Crime

Spouses and children of the person who has suffered.
Parents, foster parents, siblings, guardians or other custodians of minor victims, mentally
or physically incapacitated victims, or victims of homicide.

Hence reliance can be placed on upon United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Declaration
of Basic Principles of Justice for Victim and Abuse of Power adopted in November 1985,
which through Article 1 & 2 give exhaustive definition of this phrase:1
Article 1: Victims means persons who, individually or collectively, have suffered harm,
including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment

1 http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/pun.htm

of their fundamental rights, through acts or omissions that are in violation of criminal laws
operative within Member States, including those laws proscribing criminal abuse of power.
Article 2: A person may also considered to be a victim, under this Declaration, regardless of
whether the wrongdoer is identified, apprehended, prosecuted or convicted and regardless of the
familial relationship between the wrongdoer and the victim. The term victim also includes,
where appropriate, the immediate family or dependents of the direct victim and persons who
have suffered harm in the intervening to assist victims in distress or to prevent victimization.

Victims have few legal rights to be informed, present and heard within the criminal justice
system. Victims do not have to be notified of court proceedings or of the arrest or release of the
defendant, they have no right to attend the trial or other proceedings, and they have no right to
make a statement to the court at sentencing or at other hearings. Moreover, victim assistance
programs are virtually non-existent.

The core rights for victims of crime include:

The right to attend criminal justice proceedings;

The right to apply for compensation;
The right to be heard and participate in criminal justice proceedings;
The right to be informed of proceedings and events in the criminal justice process, of

legal rights and remedies, and of available services;

The right to protection from intimidation and harassment;
The right to restitution from the offender;
The right to prompt return of personal property seized as evidence;
The right to a speedy trial;
The right to enforcement of these rights.

EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPT

The history of crime is as old as mankind itself. This evil has existed since the dawn of
civilization. The primitive societies had some basic customs and taboos which were respected by
all members of the society. The respect for the customs and taboos was actuated by the belief that
anyone who violated the custom would be punished by God. "A tooth for tooth" and "eye for an
eye" - the theory of retaliation - which often led to bloodshed, was also prevalent in some
primitive societies.
Historically the concept of victimology in crude sense was not only part of Hammurabi's code
but also existed in developed sense in ancient Greek city-states. The concept of compensation
was also not new to India and existed in more developed sense then the present. Manu in Chapter
VIII, verse 287 clearly says that: If limb is injured, a wound is caused or blood flows, the
assailant shall be made to pay the expense of the cure or the whole.

He further in verse 288 says that : He who damages the goods of another, be it intentionally or
unintentionally,

shall

give

to

the

owner

kind

of

fine

equal

to

damage.

The quotes regarding the same can be found even in the works of Brihaspati. This is in brief the
law relating to compensation to the victim of crime that even existed in ancient civilization of
east as well as west. As far as tracing of gradual evolution of the concept is concern the whole
era till mid of 1900 can be generally divided in to three parts. In initial year of human civilization
when the human started living together especially after stone Age, because of absence of rule of
law and authoritative political institution, right to punish or rather might to punish (in from of
eye for eye or money) was with the individual and hence in crude sense the concept of
compensation existed at that time even but line of caution that need to be bear in mind is the fact
that in primitive society criminal victim relationship was based on brutal mentality of attack
being the best defense. Then came the era in which the social control in terms of mechanical
solidarity creped in the society and the offence against an individual lost its individualistic
character and now the offence was considered to be against the tribe or clan to which individual
belongs and from this era, due to advent of concept of collective responsibility clan or tribe
started replacing the victim's right. The third stage started with the advent of strong monarch
after medieval period. In this stage on one hand criminal law saw far reaching change in all its
discipline but on other the hand position of victim right to compensation remained unheard due

to advent of more strong institution named state and crystallization of a notion that King/ State is
parent of his subjects and Crime is breach of peace of King or State. So it was King/State who
had the right to punish and get monetary compensation. This position remained as it is even with
advent of democracy and the cause of victim remained unnoticed until 1950 and after that a
movement stared in U.S. and European countries and the concept again got a bit prominence.
Theoretically radical criminologist championed the idea of cause of victim, which was result of
reaction against the then criminological thinking that was only concern with criminals and not
the victims.
As civilization advanced, new ideas regarding the individual's rights and his duty towards his
fellow human beings developed and crime was no longer considered an offence against an
individual but a revolt against the whole society and an attack on the civilization of the day. Soon
the State took upon itself the right to punish the offender. Crime began to be classified and penal
laws were enacted to deal with criminals.
Until 1970s the victims of crime was a forgotten entity in the criminal justice system. As a
result, victims sometimes came to believe that they had fewer rights than the criminals who had
injured them. In addition to this some victims became so isolated from the criminal justice
process that it became difficult for the prosecutors persuading them to testify at a trial. However,
the environment began to change in the 1970s with the establishment of victim compensation
funds.
The first civilizations generally did not distinguish between Civil Law and Criminal Law. The
first written codes of Law were designed by the Sumerians around 2100-2500 BC. Another
important early code was Code Hammurabi, which formed the core of Babylonian law. These
early legal codes did not separate penal and civil laws. In the 12 th and 13th centuries a distinction
was made between various kinds of wrongs, i.e., civil wrong and public wrongs. 2 In the case of a
civil wrong the injury was specific to the individual, hence the wrongdoer was compelled to pay
compensation. However, given that in public wrongs the offence affected the public at large, the
State took the responsibility upon itself to punish the accused.
Victimology
2 K.D.Gaur

Until recently, victims were not studied. They tended to be seen as passive recipients of the
criminals greed or anger, in the wrong place at the wrong time. The study of victims, known
as victimology, has resulted in theoretical and research studies, and an awareness of the victim
has grown in the public consciousness. There is now recognition that victims have traditionally
not been treated particularly well by the criminal justice system. Victims suffer not only during
the crime, but that there are also sometimes physical and psychological complications.
Victim precipitation theory argues that there are victims who actually initiated the confrontation
that led to their injuries and deaths. Although this was the result of the study of only one type of
crime
CONCEPT OF VICTIMOLOGY IN INDIA

Victimology is science of study of the relationship between victims and violators of law
or offenders. Government has recently reinforced this political commitment in the form
of funds for the National Association of Victim Support Schemes (NAVSS). In 1964,
when the United Kingdom became one of the 1st countries to establish a policy
commitment to victims of crime in the form of criminal injuries compensation Board.
The reports of 1st and 2nd British Crime Surveys have begun to shed some light on the
nature of the relationship between victims and offenders. In particular, attention has been
paid to the attitude that victims have towards the treatment of offenders.
A Law Inadequate in favour of victims
The

victim is the forgotten man of our criminal justice system. He sets the criminal law in

to motion but then goes into oblivion. The present code of criminal procedure does not
recognize the right of victim to take part in the prosecution of the case instituted on
the basis of police report. The victim is merely a witness in a State versus case. He has
no rights to prefer appeal against the order of acquittal of the accused by trial court in
a criminal case started by State. The State reserves the discretion not to prefer and also
to withdraw from the prosecution even in heinous offences. The victim of crime becomes
the victim of our criminal justice system when the political motivated investigation
agency or prosecuting agency shows lack of interest
investigation or prosecution on extraneous consideration.
GRIEVANCES AND PROBLEMS OF VICTIMS

or apathy in the matter of

The grievances of the victims can be summarized as follows1. Inadequacy of the law in allowing the victim to participate in the prosecution in a
criminal case instituted on a police report
2. Failure on the part of the police and prosecution to keep the victims informed about
progress of the case
3. Inconvenience during interrogation by the police and lengthy court proceeding.
4. Lack of prompt medical assistance to the victims of body offences and victims of
accident.
5. Lack of legal assistance to the victim.
6. Lack of protection when the victims are threatened by the offender.
7. Failure in restitution of victim.
Along with these, there are various other adversities that are faced by the victims:

Economic strain of the family

Change in Social role of dependents
Frustration and helplessness leading to suicide.
Social stigma.
Emergence of criminal behavior.