By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Concerned citizens and prominent law activists have given a call for judicial reform and accountability at 3rd National Convention on Judicial Accountability & Reform held here in New Delhi on 6-7 February.
“Judiciary is not accessible to the poor while the rich get away with heinous crimes. While the powerful people generally get their cases listed in two days, an under-trial was languishing in jail in Assam for more than 30 years,” said Bhagvanji Raiyani, President, Janhit Manch and Chairman & Managing Trustee, Forum For Fast Justice, the organizers of the convention.
Raiyani was speaking in the session on “The judiciary and the poor”. Others who spoke on the occasion included Ms. Sudha Bharadwaj, Trade Unionist and Advocate, Chhattisgarh, Ms. Madhu Keeshwar, Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies & Founder, Maanushi, Mr. Prashant Kumar, Advocate, Supreme Court of India & Vice-President, Law Asia and Prof. Babu Mathew, Director, Action Aid India.
Elaborating on how the judicial system has disappointed the poor, Raiyani said: The Maharashtra Legal Services Authority pays only Rs 150 for one effective hearing with total not exceeding the ceiling of Rs 900 for full case. One can imagine which kind of legal service the poor can avail with this amount.
Madhu Kishwar was harsher. There are several laws in the country worth to be thrown in the dustbin because police misuse them and create more problems. The society will be rather peaceful without these laws, she said.
She said that there is a need to correct the premise of a lawyer’s job – to defend his/her client irrespective of his crime. To defend the offenders the lawyers create fake evidences, false witnesses etc. They try to purchase everything, not leave even judges.
The major issues the convention discussed included judicial appointments, judiciary and public discourse, judiciary and civil liberties and judiciary and the environment-development dichotomy.
First such convention was jointly organized in Dec. 1999 by Transparency International and Lok Sevak Sangh in Delhi. Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) organized two conventions in Delhi. Janhit Manch organized a two-day convention in December 2007 in Mumbai.