GUJARAT NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

PENOLOGY AND VICTIMOLOGY PROJECT

CASE ANALYSIS – Sanjay and Geeta Chopra kidnapping and murder

case ( Kuljeet Singh @ Ranga vs Union Of India & Anr 1981 AIR 1572)

SUBMITTED BY:
NAME: AMAN KUMAR SINGH
REGISTRATION NUMBER: 18A007
SEM.: 8TH
BATCH: 2018-2023

SUBMITTED TO:
DR. A. MARISPORT
ASST. PROFESSOR OF LAW
GNLU, GANDHINAGAR
Introduction
Kuljeet Singh alias Ranga Khus was convicted along with one Jasbir Singh alias Billa, by the
learned Additional Sessions Judge, Delhi for various offences in connection with the
kidnapping and murder of two young children, Geeta Chopra and her brother Sanjay. The two
children were lured in a car by the offenders and later killed. The two accused were sentenced
to death for the offence under section 302 read with section 34 of the Penal Code and to
varying terms of imprisonment under sections 363, 365,366 and 376 read with section 34 of
the Code. The order of conviction and sentence, including the sentence of death, was
confirmed by the Delhi High Court by its judgment dated November 16, 1979 where- upon
the two accused filed Special Leave Petitions in the Supreme Court, challenging their
conviction and sentence. The Supreme Court upheld the decision of the High court and
dismissed the Special Leave petition by the two accused.

Primary, Secondary and Tertiary victim

The expression 'victims of crime' refers to any person, group or entity who has suffered
injury, harm or loss due to illegal activity of someone. The harm or injury, as said earlier,
may be physical, psychological or financial. Such a person may be called a 'primary victim'
of crime. Besides, there may also be 'secondary victim's who suffer injury or harm as a result
of injury or harm to the primary victim. For instance, the children of a raped woman or a
battered woman suffering from lack of paternity and called 'bastards'.
There may also be tertiary victims who experience harm or injury due to the criminal act of
the offender. The term 'tertiary victim' means another person besides the immediate victim,
who is victimised as a result of the first person's action. Let it be illustrated by an example. In
case of rape, the woman raped is the primary victim while her husband, children or
illegitimate child, if born out of such rape, are secondary victims. But the general share and
disgrace, which the entire family of the raped victim has to suffer makes the members of the
family 'tertiary victims'. Particularly, the people would shim and avoid contacts with the
family of the victimised woman and would refrain from entering into any kind of matrimonial
relationship with such a family. The media, through newspaper reporting, television, radio
etc. are to some extent responsible for tertiary victimization in such offences.
The expression 'primary', secondary and 'tertiary' victimization suggests that there is some
sort of hierarchy in the level of suffering experienced as a result of a crime. But it cannot be
assumed that secondary and tertiary victims necessarily suffer less trauma than the primary
victims. They may also face the physical, psychological and emotional pain similar to that of
the primary victim. Therefore, it would not be correct to define primary, secondary and
tertiary victims in terms of more suffering, less suffering or least suffering.
Similarly in the case of Sanjay and Geeta Chopra, the deceased, having died there is hardly
any question of their suffering and they were the primary victims. The parents of the children
could be said to be the secondary victim because they have to go through the traumatic
experience of the death of their child and they suffered harm and loss. The tertiary victims in
this case can be said to be the entire family and relatives of the Sanjay and Geeta Chopra and
the society at large because the offences such as murder, rape, torture, assault, robbery etc.
have a lasting effect of insecurity, fear, helplessness, anger etc. not only in the victim but the
community as a whole which might also feel victimised and insecure.

Impact of Victimization
The impact of crime on victim may be physical, financial or psychological.
Physical impact—The victim is likely to experience a number of physical reactions to crime
to which he has fallen a victim. These may include hyper-tension, increased heart-beats,
numbness, grief, sadness etc. At the time of crime being committed against a person, he/she
has to choose between "fight or flight", that is either to fight against the perpetrator of crime
and offer resistance or the subdue and meekly fall a prey to his criminal act. In the above case
the two children would have to suffer immense physical trauma. According to the facts of the
case, the two children did not gave up easily to their kidnappers and bravely resisted their
kidnappers as a result of which the offenders killed them.
Financial impact —The financial impact of crime on the victim may be in
1. costs and expenses incurred in medical treatment for physical injuries;
2. damage to property or articles in possession;
3. Litigation cost incurred in fighting against the crime and criminal
i. e. perpetrator.
4. Employment loss or financial suffering due to loss of earnings.
5. Funeral or burial expenses, if any.

In some cases, the victim may be compelled to move or shift elsewhere for security or other
reasons. In that case, he has to bear additional costs of shifting and expendure for resetting
elsewhere.
In the above case, the parents of Sanjay and Geeta Chopra would also have to incur the
financial burden of the crime such as, litigation costs incurred in fighting against the crime
and criminal, employment loss due to trauma suffered and funeral and burial expenses of
their children, etc.
Psychological impact
Where the victim is confronted with the crime perpetrator immediate reaction will be anger or
fear depending on his physical strength and capacity to face the misfortune. Shock and
mental trauma follow subsequently after the crime has been committed and the victim regains
senses and is able to recapulate as to how he has been victimised. He gets so much distressed
that he loses self confidence and self esteem and life seems to have no meaning for him.
The psychological impact of victimization is clearly reflected in the behavioural responses of
the crime victim, which may include increased alcoholism, excessive use of drugs,
segregation of social relationships, avoidance of people's contact or social withdrawal and so
on. There may, however, be some victims who are able to shed aside their distress and shock
and return to normal life in course of time.
The capacity of victims to cope with the effect of crime varies depending on his/her mental
frame. While some victims may develop a serious post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
others may not be so affected. The PTSD assumes a more serious form when victim finds that
he/she is not believed or people do not want to share her horrible experiences and attribute
his/her victimization to his/her own fault or carelessness. This is more true in case of a rape
victim when people blame her for having 'walked alone' or "dressed attractively".
In the above case the parents of the victims would have to go through sheer shock and mental
trauma due to the death of their children. The parents must have developed PTSD.

Secondary Victimization from Criminal Justice & Society

Having suffered primary victimization in the form of physical, financial or emotional impact
of crime, the crime victim, more often than not is also subjected to secondary victimization
from tiresome court proceedings and also the society as a whole. The victim suffers from
secondary victimization if his/her human or legal rights are refused by the court due to
manipulated evidence put forth by the criminal and the court gives its decision against the
victim on the basis of that evidence.
This institutionalised victimisation is more painful for the victim. Even at the investigation
and trial stage of the case, the victim may have to suffer secondary victimization at the hands
of police and investigation personnel. It is mainly due to procedural processes and procedure
of the criminal justice system which shows little concern for the mental torture and suffering
of the victim and concentrates more on the prosecution of the offender.
According to the facts, in the above case the police did not reacted up to 1 hour after the FIR
for kidnapping was filed which resulted in suffering of the victims. If the police would have
acted more expeditiously then the victims might have been rescued. The parents of the
victims must have gone through the same experience during the trial as discussed above.
The society's attitude towards the crime victims also accounts for his secondary victimization.
Instead of sympathising and helping the victim, his relatives, friends, neighbours etc. may
squarely put the entire blame on the victim himself. They attribute victim's own behaviour to
the occurance of crime, of which he is the victim. In the above case, some people must have
also blamed the parents of the children for letting their children travel alone which eventually
led to the crime committed.
All these problems are directly related to victimization of crime victims and need to be taken
into consideration by victimologists. The criminal justice system should provide remedies
and relief to crime victims against violation of their human and fundamental rights.
Restorative Justice for Crime victims and judgement of the court.
Gone are the days when retributive and preventive theories of criminal justice were holding
the field in dealing with crime and criminals. In recent decades, the rehabilitative approaches
in penology have given rise to emergence of the concept of restorative justice. It represents a
paradigm shift in dispensation of criminal justice by involving the offender, the victim and
the community as a whole, to ensure a balance between offender's punishment and protection
of victim's rights.
Restoration - It implies help and support to victim of crime, whether the offender is
apprehended and arrested or not. The victim is restored to normal life in society by
community's restorative efforts. Similar restoration of offender to community is also a part of
restorative process wherein the offender is made to realise and acknowledge the harm or
injury caused by him to the victim and show willingness to be accountable for his wrongful
action and redress the harm or sufferings of the victim. Thus, restorative justice lays equal
importance on the rehabilitation of both victim and the offender and makes offender to realise
the consequences of his offence on the victim and compensate the latter for the loss or injury
caused due to crime.
In the above case the court sentenced the offenders to death penalty which tries to apply the
restorative justice for the victims. The parents and relatives of the victims and also the society
at large would have got some closure knowing that the people who committed the crime were
getting hanged and will not be a part of the society anymore. It would have helped them to
help normalize their lives.