Victimology

After a phone is snatched on a Mumbai local, the police file a case against the thief, the court hears the State against the accused, and the person whose phone it was is called once as a witness. She never asked for the case to be about her, yet she is the one who lost something. Victimology is the study of people like her: who becomes a victim and why, how the system treats them, and what they are owed. For a century criminal law studied the offender. This topic turns the lens around.

In two minutes

Victimology is the scientific study of victims of crime, their role in the crime, their treatment by the justice system and the help they should receive, and Indian law now gives victims a defined place through BNSS provisions on compensation, participation and appeal.

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