Author(s): B Santhi and Y Jecintha Benadicta

Abstract: This critical study looks at India's compensatory jurisprudence, showing how it changed from a system centered on retaliation to a new victim-centric framework based on the ideas of restorative justice. The progressive Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 (Section 396), the revolutionary Section 357A CrPC (2009) requiring Victim Compensation Schemes (VCS), and Section 357 CrPC (1973) are among the significant legislative milestones it assesses. The study acknowledges judicial activism that made compensation a fundamental right under Article 21 but also identifies systemic flaws that undermine implementation, including disjointed state VCS frameworks, ongoing funding shortages, and bureaucratic delays in disbursement, inconsistent judicial decisions, and low victim awareness. Crucially, there are still conflicts between the state's parenspatriae duties and criminal responsibility, and non-monetary rehabilitation is not sufficiently integrated. According to the analysis, compensatory mechanisms are still operationally brittle despite conceptual advancements, frequently reducing victim justice to token gestures. To close the gap between legislative intent and meaningful redress for victims of crime, urgent reforms are necessary, including committed funding, institutional restructuring, procedural simplification, and comprehensive rehabilitation.

DOI: 10.22271/2790-0673.2025.v5.i2a.213

Pages: 21-25 | Views: 564 | Downloads: 164

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