Victim-Centered Justice in Pakistan: Legal Gaps, Institutional Challenges, and Policy Reform

One of the emerging paradigms in contemporary criminal justice is victim-centered justice, which emphasizes the recognition, protection, and active participation of victims throughout legal proceedings.This paper analyzes legal, institutional and socio-cultural aspects of victim based justice in Pakistan wherein the criminal justice system has been offender-based. In spite of the constitutional guarantees of dignity, equality of law and access to justice, and the pledges of the international human rights frameworks, the victims are not central in practice in Pakistan. Through a qualitative research design, the study evaluates the provisions of the constitution, statutory laws, judicial practices, and policy frameworks that involve the protection of the victim. The important legal means such as the Pakistan Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, and legislation specific to the victim are assessed based on how effective they are in protecting the rights of the victims. The courts and case law, United Nations findings, and academic sources mention the systemic lack of legislation, institutional infirmities and socio- cultural obstacles that hinder access to justice. The results show that the legal framework in Pakistan does not have a full-fledged codification of the rights of the victims and therefore the protection is fragmented and not well implemented. There are institutional issues like substandard training, bureaucratic delays, insufficient victim support, and poor coordination which also contribute to the poor delivery of justice. It has been found that the patriarchal norms, stigma, and power imbalances hinder victim participation; therefore comprehensive reforms, codification of victim rights, institutional strengthening, and restorative justice are essential.