October 15,2018;

In a recent Landmark Judgment, Supreme Court expounded that,"The victim of a crime should have a say in the punishment of the criminal".

Apex Court Bench comprising of Justice Madan B. Lokur, Justice S. Abdul Nazeer and Justice Deepak Gupta held that punishment should be “meaningful” to the victim also.

SC Bench stated that, “It is necessary to seriously consider giving a hearing to the victim while awarding the sentence to a convict”.

Supreme Court Bench made it clear that victim or her family who has suffered the crime should have an equal say in the punishment of the perpetrator.

Justice Madan B Lokur stated that,“A victim impact statement or a victim impact assessment must be given due recognition so that an appropriate punishment is awarded to the convict”.

Justice Lokur further added that,"What may be ‘justice’ in the rule book may not serve the victim. Even taking a statement from the victim on the sentence of the convict may not mean relief to the victim".

SC Bench stated that,“Husband of a young married woman gets killed in a fight or a violent dispute. How is the young widow expected to look after herself in such circumstances, which could be even more traumatic if she had a young child? It is true that a victim impact statement or assessment might result in an appropriate sentence being awarded to the convict, but that would not necessarily result in ‘justice’ to the young widow".

On this, Justice Lokur expounded that the answer perhaps lies in rehabilitation of the widow rather than merely ensuring that the criminal gets a life sentence for his crime.

Justice Lokur who wrote the Judgment for the Majority of the Bench stated that,“Today, the rights of an accused far outweigh the rights of the victim of an offence in many respects… There needs to be some balancing… we still have a long way to go to bring the rights of victims of crime to the centre stage and to recognise them as human rights”.

SC Bench passed the judgment in case pertaining to rejection of an Sppeal filed by Mallikarjun Kodagali, a victim of an attack in February 2009, by the Karnataka High Court in the year 2014.

Supreme Court Bench proceeded to set aside Karnataka HC's decision.

Read Judgment @LatestLaws.com:

Supreme Court Judgment on Right to Appeal of Victims (Download PDF)

Supreme Court Judgment on Right to Appeal of Victims by Latest Laws Team on Scribd

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