CJI Surya Kant Inaugurates Bihar’s First Victim Rights Centre

Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant inaugurated Bihar’s first Victim Rights Centre at the Bihar State Legal Services Authority premises on Saturday, September 26, 2026, describing the wider effort as one in which the justice system must reach citizens who struggle to access it on their own.

Bihar gets its first Victim Rights Centre

The Victim Rights Centre, or VRC, has been set up as a single-window mechanism for victims of crimes in Bihar.

CJI Kant inaugurated the centre along with three other initiatives: nine multi-utility vehicles, a transgender helpline, and a book on the VRC.

The four initiatives were launched in the presence of Patna High Court Chief Justice V. Kameshwar Rao, who is also Patron-in-Chief of the Bihar State Legal Services Authority.

Patna High Court seniormost judge and Executive Chairman of BSLSA, Justice Sudhir Singh, also attended the function.

Judges of the Patna High Court, senior officials of the High Court, members of the district judiciary and members of the Bar were also present at the BSLSA premises.

Speaking at the launch, CJI Kant said justice must not remain confined to the walls of a courtroom.

He said justice must reach those who are vulnerable, unheard or unable to navigate the legal system on their own.

Although the four initiatives are designed to address different needs, they are joined by a common principle, the CJI said.

That principle, in his words, is that “justice must not wait for the citizen to find it; the justice system must find its way to the citizen.”

Why the VRC matters

Explaining the significance of the VRC, CJI Kant said a victim should not have to understand the law in order to access benefits that the law already guarantees.

He listed compensation, legal assistance, medical assistance, counselling, protection and rehabilitation among the benefits already guaranteed by law.

The CJI said these entitlements may exist across different statutes, departments and institutions.

However, he said their fragmentation can make them difficult for victims to access.

The VRC’s role, therefore, was presented as a mechanism to help victims deal with that fragmentation through a single-window approach.

Justice Rao described the VRC as an important step towards making justice more accessible and responsive to those who have suffered because of crime.

He said discussions around criminal justice often focus on the State and the accused.

Those discussions, he said, cover investigation, evidence, trial, conviction and acquittal.

Justice Rao added that somewhere in this process is a human being who has actually suffered because of the crime.

He said the concerns of that person must also remain central.

Helpline, vehicles and outreach

CJI Kant also highlighted the helpline launched for the transgender community.

He noted that members of vulnerable and historically marginalised communities can face barriers even before a legal case is formally initiated.

The transgender helpline was launched as part of the same set of initiatives inaugurated by the CJI.

The nine multi-utility vehicles were also flagged off as part of the programme.

According to the CJI’s remarks, these vehicles will take legal awareness, documentation support and first-point assistance to villages and settlements.

The intended areas include villages and settlements that may be beyond the immediate reach of courts and legal institutions.

“When people cannot easily reach the system, the system must be prepared to reach them,” CJI Kant said.

He said access to justice is not complete merely because an institution opens its doors.

Access is complete, he added, when people who need assistance can actually find their way to those doors.

That emphasis placed the initiatives beyond a ceremonial launch and linked them to whether citizens can effectively use the legal system.

Impact, not ceremony

CJI Kant said the four initiatives should not be judged by the inauguration ceremony.

He said they should be judged by their impact on people’s lives.

Their success, he said, would depend on whether calls for help are answered effectively.

He also said success would depend on whether promised entitlements actually reach beneficiaries.

The CJI said the initiatives must also be assessed by whether victims are spared the unnecessary repetition of painful accounts.

He added that another measure would be whether legal assistance reaches communities that have limited access to courtrooms.

Justice Sudhir Singh said the success of such initiatives would depend not merely on institutional arrangements.

He said success would also depend on the sensitivity with which people approaching the justice system are treated.

“The essence of our endeavour today can be expressed in one simple thought ‘nyay tabhi saarthak hai jab wah vyakti tak pahunche, jise uski sabse adhik awashyakta hai (Justice is meaningful only when it reaches the person who needs it the most),” Justice Singh said.

The event brought together the VRC, the transgender helpline, the multi-utility vehicles and the book on VRC under a shared access-to-justice framework.

The CJI’s remarks framed that framework around people who are vulnerable, unheard, historically marginalised or unable to navigate the legal system by themselves.

The official account of the event was published on September 27, 2026, at 02:13 am IST.

Source: The Hindu