Abstract

Secondary victimization the compounding of the original harm of sexual assault by the processes, attitudes, and actors of the criminal justice system itself is a pervasive yet underanalysed dimension of rape adjudication in India. Whilst Indian courts have progressively enlivened the rights to substantive justice for rape survivors by a progressive interpretation of Articles 14 and 21, the procedural architecture within which those rights must be asserted continues to do systematic institutional harm upon the very persons it claims to protect. This paper undertakes a critical legal analysis of secondary victimization across the lifecycle of a rape case in India from first-information registration and police investigation, through trial and cross-examination, to delayed judgment delivery, and inadequate post-conviction rehabilitation. Drawing upon constitutional provisions, the Bharatriya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 ("BNS"), the Bharatriya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 ("BNSS"), the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 ("POCSO"), landmark judgments of the Supreme and High Courts, Law Commission Reports, National Crime Records Bureau ("NCRB") data, and a substantial corpus of socio-legal scholarship, the paper locates five principal sites of secondary victimization: (i) hostile and insensitive police receipt; (ii) medico- legal examination practices including the discredited two-finger test; (iii) aggressive and character-based cross-examination; (iv) institutional delay and multiple court appearances; and (v) meager compensation and rehabilitation. The paper argues that secondary victimization is not an incidental by-product of the adjudicative process, but a structural feature of an accused-centric system that has yet to fully assimilate a victim-rights paradigm. It proposes targeted doctrinal, procedural and institutional reforms underpinned by the constitutional guarantee of dignity under Article 21, and India's obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women to deconstruct the architecture of secondary harm.

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