Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant on Saturday inaugurated India’s first Victim Rights Centre at the Bihar State Legal Services Authority premises in Patna, creating a single-window mechanism for victims of crime. The centre, established as a pilot project under Section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, brings legal aid, medical assistance, counselling, compensation and rehabilitation under one roof.

It will maintain a unified case record so victims are not asked to repeat their statements to different agencies, work to prescribed internal timelines, and track each case until relief is obtained and verified. At the same programme, the CJI flagged off nine multi-utility vehicles for legal aid outreach in villages, launched a helpline for transgender persons, and released a booklet explaining the centre’s functioning.

Justice V. Kameswar Rao, Chief Justice of the Patna High Court and patron-in-chief of BSLSA, and BSLSA executive chairman Justice Sudhir Singh also addressed the gathering. The CJI said justice must not wait for citizens to find it; the system must find its way to them.