Since beginning of human civilization victim of crime were always being forgotten man of Criminal Justice System

Since beginning of human civilization victim of crime were always being forgotten man of Criminal Justice System. At that main focus was solely on criminal and crime instead of on victim. In the starting of the 20th century, it absolutely was observed that the status of victim within the Criminal Justice System was very poor and worse. Victim role was restricted solely inform to the Police regarding the crime and there have been only a few legislative provisions offered for compensation to victims. The position of the victim of crime stay nearly in dark for hundreds of years, however in last three-four decades rights of victim has emerged as key factor of consideration in criminal justice system and victim these days are accepted as a worthy person in proceedings of law and it attracts attention from all nations across the world. Intellectual, academicians, government all are currently starting thinking about the victim of crime and his problem’s remedy is main concern for them these days.
The victim of crime was not a subject of criminological research until the finish of Second World War. This subject emerged for the first time in 1940 in leading work of some acclaimed victimologists like Benjamin Mendolson, Hans Von Hentig and Stephen Schafer. Victimology remained shockingly on the outskirts of the criminological research until last few years.
Issues identified with crime are regularly talked about in our society and but victimology is such are on which no adequate consideration was given before few decades, now it needs significantly more consideration. The criminal justice set up in India is outlined in such a way, to the point that much consideration is being paid to the crime and the personal conduct and behavior the culprit but yet scarcely draw any notice is given to the victims of crime. In criminal justice system of India efforts are in effect just to understand the identity and social, political and different other factors which contributed towards his criminal conduct however no consideration is being paid to the victims of crime and till today they appear to be the overlooked person in this entire picture.
It was typically seen in ancient times that victims suffer injustice silently and once it exceeds all limits they began to take the law into their own hands and get revenge on the wrongdoers. The modern approach to victimology believer that victims have equal right of justice and that they ought to be adequately compensated and restored and therefore the compensation should be responsibility of State rather than the offender.
India was prolonged under British rule and after independence most of government rules have great impact of British rules and regulations and Criminal justice system is no exception and it is mostly based on British model of criminal justice system too. The role of the Victim in Indian Criminal justice system before mid-nineteenth century was restricted only to register their complaint and witness in criminal proceedings. On one hand, the offender of crime in Indian Criminal Justice system has many rights to defend himself but on the other hand victim of same crime has no right to protect their interest in criminal justice system and his role is restricted to register complaint about the crime and present himself as witness for the prosecution solely. A Victim is any individual who has suffered physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of their elementary rights.
The key motivation behind criminal justice system is to ensure the Rule of Law which involves enforcement of law to maintain social harmony and punishment to offenders on one hand and on the other hand facilitate fair trial to victims and their social restoration through remedial arrangement of justice. Later on gradually the Criminal justice system gets a vertical line and turns into a noteworthy methods for social justice control by the State. From a Criminological and Victimological viewpoint, this vertical Criminal justice framework can be effectively supplanted by a more neutral horizontal line of justice where the punishment system is tried to be substituted by an mediation system which is more focused on victim of crime.
Presently, India has a well established sound criminal justice system which is mainly governed and directed by four major laws viz., The Constitution of India, The Indian Penal Code, The Code of Criminal Procedure of India lastly The Indian Evidence Act.
Victims of crime in India face multi-dimensional problems. The filing complaint is a still a challenging task and victims play no role unless the police consider it necessary. The other big problem in India is defective and influenced investigations due to which also restrict role of victim in criminal justice system. There are serious consequences of crime, on one hand victims of crime suffer economic problems to the family due to the death of the only earning member of the family and on the other hand physical disability caused by victimization develop inferiority complex in the victim, which lead to frustration and sometimes to suicide. Rape cases in India increased very fastly in recent years and victims of rape facing the social stigma today.
Victims of any crime and of human rights violations (regardless of their legal status) have a right to be compensated for the losses sustained due to the crime committed on her/him. Compensation can be sought through criminal, civil or administrative procedures, and can be awarded for material (including unpaid wages and medical expenses) and nonmaterial (such as for pain, suffering and trauma) damages.
The victims who assumed to be the key role in the crime situation is overlooked and ignored since a long time in history. Until the point when the foundation of a police functionary established a century ago, victim was the most important component in the conveying to justice about any criminal and crime. But the police slowly took over the prosecuting function of the victim and today, though private indictments are conceivable yet uncommon and just emerge only where the state denies prosecution. As the prosecuting power of police increased the role of victim largely reduced to reporting about the crime and giving the evidence only when requested. In this way today state carried out most of prosecution function through police and victims role in prosecution reduced to a great extend. Despite the fact that victim’s role is very significant and they are necessary for fair justice, victims are still not furnished with the decision making power. Some would contend this decreases the feeling that concept of vicitmisation has been concurred that the prosecution appears to have little to do with them or what happened and undeniably to do with state or even police approach. Until the 1960s, this feeling was enhanced by the absence of pay or compensation for victim. Despite the fact that there was a few, genuinely negligible, administrative arrangement for remuneration it was once in a while utilized, and the unfortunate casualty had no privilege to pay and no desire that it would be paid.