# CJI to inaugurate India’s first Victim Rights Centre in Patna 2026-09-24T09:21:33+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 3 independent outlets Chief Justice of India Surya Kant will inaugurate India's first Victim Rights Centre at the Bihar State Legal Services Authority in Patna on September 26, 2026. A transgender helpline will also be launched and a fleet of multi-utility vehicles flagged off. The centre, conceived as a 12-month pilot project, aims to provide a single point of entry for crime victims, maintaining a unified case record so victims do not have to repeat their account at multiple counters. The centre does not create a new statutory body but operates through existing personnel and coordination with police, hospitals, child welfare committees and state departments. Cases remain open until relief is obtained and verified or the victim requests closure. The project has been developed under Justice V. Kameswar Rao, Chief Justice of Patna High Court, and Justice Sudhir Singh. Policy oversight rests with a steering committee chaired by a High Court judge, Justice Ajeet Kumar is the first chairman. The centre also proposes maintaining records for 'situational victims' including dependent family members of undertrials and acquitted persons who return to altered circumstances. Bihar had the second-highest prison population in India at 53,076 inmates as of December 2023, with over 46,000 undertrials. After evaluation, the centre may be extended to other districts through District Legal Services Authorities. ## Indian Opinion Analysis The coverage is uniform straight reporting across all three outlets, with no discernible slant. The Hindu and LiveLaw provide near-identical factual detail, including the centre's structure, the transgender helpline, and the 12-month pilot timeline. NDTV's version is a single-sentence brief. The key implication is the centre's potential to address a chronic coordination gap in victim entitlements. The project's performance in Patna over the next year will determine whether it scales to other districts with high undertrial populations. The centre's baseline data collection in its first quarter is the number to watch. ## Coverage - thehindu.com (neutral report) Straight news agency-style reporting with no discernible slant - livelaw.in (neutral report) Straight news agency-style reporting with no discernible slant - ndtv.com (neutral report) Single-sentence factual brief with no slant Tags: Bihar State Legal Services Authority, Patna, Surya Kant, Victim Rights Centre Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/cji-surya-kant-to-open-indias-first-victim-rights-centre-in-patna/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/cji-surya-kant-to-open-indias-first-victim-rights-centre-in-patna/#story-in-brief