Page 21 - KDU INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE

KDU International Journal of Criminal Justice (KDUIJCJ)
Volume I | Issue II| July 2024

but as an important and principal arm in the criminal justice system it is
expected that the Authority would play a more robust, energetic and

proactive role in the protection of victims of Crime and Witnesses. The

Judges too play an immense role in the promotion and protection of rights
of victims such as Lisa and her daughter. Judges from the lowest court to

highest in the land need to keep in mind the words of the erudite Supreme

Court Judge and Former Chief Justice of India, Justice Bhagwati when he
stated in the judgement of the famous Judge’s Transfer Case:

“Today, a vast revolution is taking place in the judicial process; the theatre

of the law is fast changing and the problems of the poor are coming to the
forefront. The Court has to innovate new methods and devise new

strategies for the purpose of providing access to justice to large masses of
people who are denied their basic rights and to whom freedom and

liberty have no meaning.”
8
Under the new Act of 2015, Victims of Crime have a number of
entitlements. Section 4(1), Act No 4 of 2015 of the Act stipulates that a

victim of crime shall be entitled to receive a sum of money from the

Authority, in consideration of the expenses incurred as a result of the
offence committed and his participation in any judicial or quasi-judicial

proceedings of a Court or a Commission pertaining to the alleged
commission of an offence or alleged infringement of a Fundamental Right

or a violation of a Human Right.
9

Although the Assistance to and the Protection of Victims of Crimes and

Witnesses Act entered the Law Books seven years ago it has failed in its

8 Anuj Bhuwania, ‘Courting the People’ (1 Edition Cambridge University Press 2017)
st
9 Assistance to and Protection of Victims of Crime ss4(1), 4(2), 4(3)
10