Definition of Victim:
53.To participate in a criminal proceeding one need not be a victim alone. The word 'victim' will have to be given a wider interpretation to mean not only the victim but any one who is associated or assisting the victim or who sets the criminal law into motion or even in a given case a third party with Public interest. In a case where the Victim is no more it cannot be said no application can be filed by any body seeking to invoke the proviso to Section 24(8) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Moreover when a victim is not capable of prosecuting a case then he has to be represented by another person. Lord Denning, in the notable case of the Attorney-General of the Gambia v. Pierra Sarr N' Fie, spoke thus
:
....the words 'person aggrieved' are of wide import and should not be subjected to a restrictive interpretation. They do not include, of course, a mere busybody who is interfering in things which do not concern him"
54.Similarly Prof. S.A. de Smith takes the same view:
All developed legal systems have had to face the problem of adjusting conflicts between two aspects of the public interest - the desirability of encouraging individual citizens to participate actively in the enforcement of the law, and the desirability of encouraging the professional litigant and the meddlesome interloper to invoke the jurisdiction of the courts in matters that do not concern him."
A reading of the above said judgment would clearly show that in a given case even a third party could be permitted to file appropriate application to cancel the bail. Therefore the definition of victim would mean a person who represents the victim like a natural guardian or other guardian or a guardian of a person of unsound mind or even a third party, when the victim is so poor, illiterate and dependent to the extent of requiring support from others and not able to prosecute on his own.
Madras High Court
Sathyavani Ponrani vs Samuel Raj on 7 July, 2010
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