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Kathmandu Monday March 26, 2001 Chaitra 13, 2057.
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'Victim Justice system should be guaranteed in
the constitution'
TKP : Generally, the word ‘victim’ relates to crime victim. As a
victimologist, how do you define the word ‘ victim’?
SS: Anyone who is badly affected to his inconvenience,
wrongly treated to the deprivation of one’s interest or dealt illegally is a victim.
TKP: Could you please point out some kinds of victims?
SS : There are about 23 institutions in the country dealing
about Human Rights. But unfortunately, they deem only torture victims as victims. But
there are many other victims such as consumer victims, information victims, service
victims, corruption victims, utility victims and so on and so forth. Consumers are
entitled to get non-adulterated food. But people are victimized by the flow of adulterated
food in the market. He/she is a consumer victim. If a teacher remains absent from the
class and does not discharge his duty, the students are the victimized. This is then
service victim. There is no water in the taps, but still, we have to pay the charge. It is
utility victim. Pedestrians in Kathmandu cannot walk freely on footpaths because of the
street-vendors. They are then utility victims. If a journalist is unreasonably deprived of
information, they are then information victims. In this way people are victimized in every
nook and corner of life.
TKP: Can a victim claim for the damages incurred thereof ?
SS: As you know, we cannot sue anyone or make claims
anywhere for the failure of delivery of water into our taps. Thousands of such cases that
subject the people as victim pass off in impunity. There are few laws covering the
provisions relating to compensation like in Vehicle and Transportation Act, Food Act, but
they too are inadequate and insufficient.
TKP: How they are inadequate and insufficient?
SS: The existing laws regarding criminal justice, by the
name itself, seek justice for criminals, not for the victims. The laws ignore the fact
that the victims are the real justice seekers. Thus, the law itself causes postcrime
victimization. The criminals already victimize the victims. Then, they are made to suffer
again in the course of seeking justice. For instance, let me tell you about real incident.
A gang of nine vagabonds raped a thirteen years old girl. She was unconscious and rescued
by a passerby villager and reached home. A case was filed against the rapists. In the
court, the eyewitness who had rescued the girl denied it and claimed that he was elsewhere
on the fateful day and time. The court acquitted the rapists on some technical grounds.
Now what about the girl and her future? Is there any Human Rights activist who cares about
this particular girl? What the rights activists care about is that the criminals, in
prison or elsewhere, should be treated humanely.
Suppose the court deemed the rapists guilty. Then, the girl would have been
able to claim half of the property of the rapists. But it is very difficult to put this
into practice. To claim the property, she has to be coparcener. But, she is not
coparcener. The cobweb of the due process is very complicated.
Worse still, the criminals generally have connection with people in the
government and exert influence. The government gets the case reverted. The victim is then
left with no recourse for seeking further justice. In case of this girl, the government
has already returned the case on her behalf. How injustice, immoral and intolerable it is?
Lets imagine another scenario, where the criminals (rapists) go to prison.
The criminals there enjoy free lodging, food, medicine and even education at the cost of
the government. But the girl mercilessly raped, need to bear general hatred in the
society, is made to feel uneasy everywhere and has to bear the agony as well as
psychological trauma. If the state provides the above said privileges and facilities even
to the criminals in jail, why not such facilities be provided to the victim as well ?
TKP: Is there any way to curb these all shortcomings?
SS: Yes, of course. First of all, the rights of the victims
should be guaranteed in the constitution itself. The whole judicial system should be
victims-oriented. As there are some rights guaranteed for the criminal in Article (14) of
the constitution, there should be some rights to safeguard the interest of the victims.
Following the constitutional provision, other laws should be enacted accordingly.
TKP: As you are working for the sake of victims for a quite long time, what
results have you achieved so far?
SS: Some achievements have been made. The move to safeguard
the interest of victim is gaining voiced over the years. The trend of getting the cases
returned by the government is changed. The court has now begun to interrogate the
government when it seeks the withdrawal of the cases. Awareness is being increased among
the people of judicial sector. Similarly, new provision has been made in law, which
entitles the victim for Travel Allowance and Daily Allowance at par with non-gazetted
first class civil servant for the time called as witness in the court.
TKP: Last of all, anything you want to add?
SS: Let’s pray for the betterment of the victims. In my
opinion, the victims are the real justice seekers, not the society, nor the state. And,
the people are the one and only consumers of the democracy, let them live without being
victims. Because, everyone has the right of not to be victimized.
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