Civil and Criminal Law and Justice · Chapter 11
Study notes aligned to the official NEB syllabus.
A crime always hurts someone. The person who suffers from the crime is the crime victim (अपराध पीडित). In the eyes of the law, a crime victim is a person who suffers harm because of an offence. The harm must be a direct result of that offence. The harm can take many forms. It may be physical injury. It may be mental or emotional pain. It may be money or property that is lost. It may also be the loss of a legal right. So the idea is not only about bodily hurt. A person can be a victim without being physically wounded. Think of someone robbed of property. Think of someone cheated out of money. Think of someone whose good name is damaged by defamation. Think of someone denied a right. Each of these people is a victim too. For example, a shopkeeper is cheated out of a large sum by a fraudster. A woman is injured in an acid attack. Both are crime victims. One has suffered money loss. The other has suffered bodily harm. But the law treats both as victims.
The idea of a victim is not limited to the one person who was directly attacked. Some crimes also harm the people close to that person. This is clearest in serious crimes like murder. When someone is killed, their close family and dependents suffer a real loss. So the law can treat these family members as victims too. They are the ones who bear the true consequences of the wrong. We can divide victims into two kinds. The first is the direct victim (प्रत्यक्ष पीडित). This is the person against whom the offence was committed. The second kind appears in grave cases. These are the indirect or secondary victims. They are people like the spouse, the children, or the parents who depend on the direct victim. Here is a simple example. A man is the only earner in his family. He is murdered. The law recognises him as the victim. But it also recognises his widow and children. They lose their support because of the crime. So they must be considered when the court looks at justice and compensation.
For a long time, criminal law paid little attention to the victim. There is a reason for this. A crime is treated as a wrong against the whole society, not just against one person. So the case is fought between the State and the accused. In this older model, the victim was often just a witness. She would give her evidence. Then she would step aside. The case was no longer hers. Think of a robbery victim in that older system. She identifies the robber. She gives her statement. After that, the case belongs to the State. Whether she is told how the case is going does not seem to matter much. Whether she gets her loss back is treated as a side issue. Modern thinking sees the problem with this. It neglects the very person who was harmed. So the law now gives the crime victim a clear and protected status.
Victim-oriented justice (पीडित केन्द्रित न्याय) is a way of running the justice system. It puts the victim at the centre of the process, not only the offender. It treats the victim's interests, dignity, safety, and recovery as main concerns of justice. These are not treated as an afterthought. They are not left until after the State has dealt with the accused. They matter from the start.
Traditional criminal justice is offender-centred. Its main questions are about the accused. Is the accused guilty? What punishment should follow? The whole system of investigation, prosecution, and trial is built to answer these questions. Victim-oriented justice does not drop the trial of the offender. The offender is still tried. But it adds a second concern of equal weight. This concern is the person who was harmed. It asks several things for the victim. The victim should be kept informed. The victim should be treated with respect. The victim should be protected from more harm or threats. The victim should be allowed to take part and to be heard. The victim should be helped to recover. This recovery comes through remedy, compensation, and rehabilitation. (Rehabilitation means help to return to a normal life.) A rape case shows this well when it is handled the victim-oriented way. The survivor's identity is kept secret. She is protected from threats by the accused. She is kept informed of each stage of the case. Her statement may be recorded in a gentle way. This spares her from more trauma. If the accused is convicted, she may receive compensation. She may also get support for rehabilitation. So the approach changes the main question of the system. The old question was only "what shall we do with the offender?" The new approach also asks "what does the victim need, and how do we make the victim whole again?" This outlook sits behind Nepal's constitutional guarantee. The Constitution of Nepal 2015 gives a victim of crime the right to justice.
This approach gives the crime victim in Nepal a set of rights. The Constitution of Nepal 2015 is the starting point. It guarantees the victim of a crime the right to justice. It explains that this right includes more than one thing. It includes the right to be told about the investigation and the proceedings of the case. It also includes the right to social rehabilitation and to compensation according to law. The Muluki Penal Code 2074 and the Criminal Offences (Sentencing and Execution) Act 2074 build on this guarantee. Together they form a victim-protection framework. In substance, this framework recognises the following rights:
Compensation (क्षतिपूर्ति) is a central part of this. The court can order the convicted offender to pay compensation to the victim. This money is for the loss or injury the offender caused. Sometimes the offender cannot pay. Sometimes the offender cannot be found. For such cases, the law provides relief to the victim from a State victim-relief arrangement. This applies to the cases the law covers. Here is an example. A person is grievously hurt in an assault. The offender is convicted. The court can order the offender to pay compensation for the injury and loss. But suppose the offender cannot pay. Then a State relief arrangement may give the victim support. Again, this applies to the cases the law covers. In this way, the law tries to protect the victim. The victim is not left to carry the whole burden of the crime alone. The victim receives both recognition and real material support.