Chairperson directs States to arrange for
lawyers in all magistrate courts
The Commission has directed the States to make available the services of a legal aid counsel in every magistrate's court for defendants who cannot afford lawyers to argue their cases.
This was stated by the Chairperson, Dr. Justice A.S.Anand while inaugurating a National Human Rights Meet organized as part of the bi-centenary celebrations of the Thalassery Court in Thalassery, Kerala on 29 May 2004.
Justice Anand said that poverty, illiteracy, backwardness and lack of awareness about the rights should not remain as barriers in the realization of basic human rights by the people.
Stating that a majority of the poor living in remote villages were totally ignorant of their basic human rights, he said that the civic bodies, including local panchayats, could do a great deal in creating awareness among such sections.
On the issue of hundreds of under-trials languishing in jails, Justice Anand said that the judicial officers and the Bar could do a lot in putting an end to the blatant violation of human rights taking place in the prisons.
Citing a series of instances involving the violation of basic human rights taking place in the jails all over the country he said that the government was found to be on the dock in a majority of such cases. He stressed on the need to sensitize the judicial officers and the police on human rights, and called upon the judicial officers to find out the truth behind instances of violations of the rights of people.
Justice Anand observed that the practitioners of the legal profession could play a crucial role to check the violation of human rights, but the commercialization creeping into the legal profession was forcing the people to compromise with violation of their rights rather than seeking justice from courts.
This was stated by the Chairperson, Dr. Justice A.S.Anand while inaugurating a National Human Rights Meet organized as part of the bi-centenary celebrations of the Thalassery Court in Thalassery, Kerala on 29 May 2004.
Justice Anand said that poverty, illiteracy, backwardness and lack of awareness about the rights should not remain as barriers in the realization of basic human rights by the people.
Stating that a majority of the poor living in remote villages were totally ignorant of their basic human rights, he said that the civic bodies, including local panchayats, could do a great deal in creating awareness among such sections.
On the issue of hundreds of under-trials languishing in jails, Justice Anand said that the judicial officers and the Bar could do a lot in putting an end to the blatant violation of human rights taking place in the prisons.
Citing a series of instances involving the violation of basic human rights taking place in the jails all over the country he said that the government was found to be on the dock in a majority of such cases. He stressed on the need to sensitize the judicial officers and the police on human rights, and called upon the judicial officers to find out the truth behind instances of violations of the rights of people.
Justice Anand observed that the practitioners of the legal profession could play a crucial role to check the violation of human rights, but the commercialization creeping into the legal profession was forcing the people to compromise with violation of their rights rather than seeking justice from courts.