After a petition was filed in the Delhi High Court questioning the absence of human rights courts in the national capital, Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna has issued a notification that each Delhi court will have a specific human rights court.
The notification, a copy of which is with IANS, said under section 30 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, and other powers, the lieutenant governor, with concurrence of the chief justice of Delhi High Court, has specified the court of additional sessions judge in each district as the human rights court.
The government became active only after the high court intervened. It had June 1 assured the high court that it will set up the human rights courts within six weeks.
The petition was filed by a human rights group, the Asian Centre for Human Rights.
The group submitted that though the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Act was notified in 1993, its provisions for setting up special courts and appointments of special public prosecutors for expeditious trials in human rights violations had not been implemented in the past 18 years.
The act says that there shall be a human rights court in each district and a special public prosecutor to see speedy trial of such cases.
The group submitted that the absence of special courts and special public prosecutors was hampering the trial in such cases in the capital as well as in other states.
The NHRC had also recommended that these designated courts be presided over by judicial officers of an additional sessions judge rank and they should have the powers to prosecute as well as grant compensation to the victim.
Due to this, cases pertaining to violation of human rights were getting affected, the petition said.
Rajiv Khosla, spokesperson of the co-ordination committee of Delhi bar associations, told IANS that they had received the information two-three days back.
‘After receiving the notification, the district judge is holding a meeting with us. We are chalking out the strategy, which will be finalised by mid of this month (July),’ he said.
(NEWS SOURCE FROM IANS 2.7.11 )
