New Delhi   

When trauma goes unheard

Law &order Our criminal justice system does not address the victim's suffering, says Devesh K. Pandey

In the course of bringing perpetrators of crime to justice, the overall needs of victims are often ignored. Though laws are formulated to address their grievances, experts feel that the criminal justice system in India is more accused-centric.

To begin with, there is no charter for victims displayed anywhere, even at police stations where they come into contact with the law and order system for the first time. Ironically, police stations do have on display the rights of the accused.

As a senior police officer put it: "Here we do not have the concept of studying victims. There are no clear guidelines on how victims should be dealt with when they come in contact with law. They have to fall back on their own resources in the absence of laid down provisions for providing them succour in terms of rehabilitation or compensation."

According to experts, the criminal justice system here concentrates more on the rights of the accused, from investigations to the trial stage.

Once the statements of the victims or their relatives are recorded, their job is considered virtually over.

According to Rajat Mitra of Swanchetan Society for Mental Health, in most cases victims from all socio-economic strata perceive themselves as "objects": "We have interviewed victims of different kinds of trauma. They feel that they are considered nothing more than mere objects. This is because the system does not have any established mechanism to listen to what the victims are going through, the inner trauma they are coping with every moment, their mental state, fears, expectations from the system and safety issues."

As the job of the police is to conduct investigations objectively and fix responsibility for crime, they are not trained to address the trauma of victims. Their focus is to get the accused convicted. "But without addressing the trauma of victims, the police cannot get an objective account of the crime from them. Also, in such conditions victims do not work as an ally of the criminal justice system."

At the trial stage, the prosecution fights the case on behalf of the victims who have no major role to play but to keep waiting for the verdict. It makes the victims more passive as they cannot take a stand.

In such circumstances, the immense grief of the victim goes largely unnoticed as the emphasis is on bringing the guilty to book.

According to Dr. Mitra, listening to the victims' trauma is necessary to gauge the impact of the crime on their life. Citing the example of victim-impact statement in the American criminal justice system, he said there the victims are given an opportunity to describe in what ways the trauma has changed their lives permanently. "It empowers the victims and lifts their self-respect. By expressing their thoughts, they also go through the process of catharsis," he added.

It has been observed that in the absence of such a provision here, the media becomes the medium for the victims to express their trauma, but only in some cases. It happened in the Jessica Lal murder case, Priyadarshani Mattoo case, Nitish Katara murder case, and also in the Uphaar cinema fire tragedy. In these cases, the media focus on the trauma of the victims not only aroused the conscience of the public but also attracted the much-needed attention of the judiciary.

To make sure that the victims get their due, there is a need to create more space and institutions for them. The goal should be to address their immediate and long-term concerns.

Through professional counselling and providing them a forum to speak out their minds, they can be better prepared to face adversities.

-- Devesh K. Pandey

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

When trauma goes unheard
1.32 lakh forms sold for Delhi varsity admissions
St. Stephen's cut-off list out
Recruit's body found
Delhi to get more power from Dadri project
JNUSU urges no punitive action
Court rejects MP's plea
Charges to be framed in FERA case
Gujjar stir went out of control, Rajasthan tells Supreme Court
Ground level ozone rising

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu