International legal basis for compensation

Article 25(2) of the UNTOC Convention requires States Parties to establish appropriate
procedures to provide access to compensation and restitution for victims and requires that this
right be communicated to victims.
Article 14 of the UNTOC Convention requires States Parties to give priority consideration to
returning confiscated proceeds of crime or property to a requesting State Party so that it can give
compensation to victims.
In addition, Article 6(6) of the Trafficking Protocol requires that States Parties to ensure their
domestic legal systems contain measures that offer victims of trafficking the possibility of
obtaining compensation for damage suffered.

compensation to a victim of trafficking in persons will not necessary remove the traumatic
effects of the process of human trafficking but it will improve the chances of his/her
psychological recovery and eventual reintegration into society as well as assuage his/her
feelings. It will also offer economic empowerment and protection from being re-trafficked.
Why ^
the 'Compensation Scheme for Women Victims/Survivors of Sexual Assault/Other Crimes-2018

In India, the word "victim" is defined in Section 2(wa) by the Code of Criminal Procedure
(Amendment) Act ,2008of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. The term "victim" means a
person who has suffered any loss or injury caused by reason of the act or omission for
which the accused person has been charged and the expression "victim" includes his or her
guardian or legal heir

 Hari Kishan v. Sukhbir Singh high lighting the importance of Section 357(3) of the
Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 says, Section 357 of Cr.P.C. 1973, is an important
provision. This power to award compensation is not ancillary to other sentences but it is in
addition thereto. It is a measure of responding appropriately to crime as well as reconciling
the victim with the offender.

The 154th Law Commission Report on the CrPC devoted an entire chapter to
'Victimology' in which the growing emphasis on victim's rights in criminal trials was
discussed extensively as under:
Increasingly the attention of criminologists, penologists and reformers of criminal justice
system has been directed to victimology, control of victimization and protection of victims of
crimes. Crimes often entail substantive harms to people and not merely symbolic harm to
the social order. Consequently the needs and rights of victims of crime should receive
priority attention in the total response to crime. One recognized method of protection of
victims is compensation to victims of crime. The needs of victims and their family are
extensive and varied.

Why to compenat-
that victim of a serious crime, especially women, needs urgent and immediate
attention and both physical and mental rehabilitation. Such rehabilitation, from the
nature of the scheme and the section, is not dependent on the pace of either
investigation or trial.
Reform

 compensation is awarded under the scheme as

formulated pursuant to Section 357A, as the fundamental
right of the victim under Article 21 (of the Constitution)
have been violated. Denial of compensation to such
victim would continue such violation and perpetrate gross
inhumanity on the victim in question.
^Serina Mondal v. State of W.B., 2018 SCC OnLine Cal
4238