CJI Surya Kant To Inaugurate India's First Victim Rights Centre At Patna On Sept 26

Victims of crime often have to engage with multiple institutions, including police stations, hospitals, courts and government departments, each operating through separate procedures.

Various rights and entitlements are available under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, the Bihar Victim Compensation Scheme, 2014, and allied laws, including emergency medical treatment, legal aid, copies of FIRs, participation in bail proceedings, compensation, protection measures and appellate remedies. However, support mechanisms are presently spread across District Legal Services Authorities, District Criminal Injuries Compensation Boards, police authorities, One Stop Centres, welfare departments, hospitals and non-governmental organisations.

The Centre seeks to provide a single point of entry for victims, maintain a unified case record and function through prescribed internal timelines. Cases are to remain open until relief is obtained and verified or until closure is sought in writing.

The project does not create a new statutory body and operates through existing infrastructure, personnel and coordination with police authorities, hospitals, Child Welfare Committees, One Stop Centres, State departments and organisations already working in the field. The Centre is intended to facilitate and monitor access to available rights and services and does not itself disburse compensation.

The project has been developed under the guidance of Justice V. Kameswar Rao, Chief Justice of the Patna High Court and Patron-in-Chief of the Authority, and Justice Sudhir Singh, Judge of the Patna High Court and Executive Chairman of the Authority. Policy oversight is vested in a Steering Committee chaired by a Judge of the Patna High Court, with Justice Ajeet Kumar serving as its first Chairman. A Coordination Committee comprising representatives of relevant departments and agencies will oversee inter-departmental implementation, while administrative control rests with the Member Secretary of the Authority.

Recognition Of 'Situational Victims'

The Centre also proposes maintaining records relating to "situational victims".

This category includes dependent family members of sole earning undertrial prisoners whose prolonged incarceration results in loss of income, disruption of education, delayed medical treatment and loss of property. It also includes persons acquitted after extended periods of detention who return to altered family, social and economic circumstances.

As of December 31, 2023, Bihar's prisons housed 53,076 inmates, the second-highest prison population in the country, including more than 46,000 undertrials, also the second-highest in India, according to Prison Statistics India 2023. Crime in India 2023 recorded Patna as having the highest rate of kidnapping and abduction of women among nineteen metropolitan cities.

The Centre is expected to compile baseline district-level data for Patna during its first quarter of operation.

In Jagjeet Singh v. Ashish Mishra, Justice Surya Kant held that a victim's right to be heard extends throughout the criminal process, including at the stage of bail, and is not confined to trial proceedings.

A 2014 decision delivered by Justice Surya Kant while serving on the Punjab and Haryana High Court concerned a married couple lodged in Central Jail, Patiala. While declining the relief sought, the Court directed the State of Punjab to constitute a Jail Reforms Committee to frame a scheme for conjugal and family visits for prison inmates. The judgment recognised that the impact of criminal proceedings extends beyond the accused to affected family members.

Transgender Helpline

The Transgender Helpline being launched alongside the Centre will operate in conjunction with the 2023 Scheme for Consolidation, Rehabilitation and Access to Justice of Transgender Persons, framed to give effect to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.

The Centre will function as the delivery point for the scheme and assist transgender persons in obtaining identity certificates and accessing housing, employment, healthcare and welfare benefits.

Publication On The Centre

The publication being released at the event contains the scheme governing the Victim Rights Centre, the standard operating procedure applicable to it and the prescribed forms for documenting each stage of the process.

It has been authored by Ms. Shama Sinha, Advocate, who proposed the project and serves as its Project Coordinator. The publication is intended as a resource for stakeholders involved in victim assistance and for legal services authorities interested in adopting the model.

The pilot project will operate in Patna district for twelve months and, upon evaluation, is proposed to be expanded to other districts through the District Legal Services Authorities.

The programme at the Bihar State Legal Services Authority is scheduled to commence at 12:10 PM on September 26, 2026. Justice Sudhir Singh, Judge, Patna High Court and Executive Chairman of the Authority, and Justice V. Kameswar Rao, Chief Justice of the Patna High Court and Patron-in-Chief of the Authority, will address the gathering, followed by a special address by the Chief Justice of India, Justice Surya Kant.