Judges should be instruments of social justice"

Justice M.N.Venkatachaliah
In an adversarial Criminal Justice System, the Judge is supposed to see that the evidence of an honest witness is not harmed by intimidation or blackmail. Trials become a mockery otherwise. The Chairperson of NHRC expressed this view while addressing a group of District & Sessions Judges and officers from Correctional Services, in the Commission. Maintaining that the dignity of a courtroom is of primary importance, the Chairperson felt that indiscipline is common in most of the lower courts in the country today, efficiency of cross-examination of witnesses have all but disappeared, and trials had frequently become a farce.

In an adversarial system, the accused has to be presumed to be innocent until proven otherwise. The Judge has to evaluate the evidence. But today the Judge has, too often, become a mere onlooker. There is a very low rate of conviction as the investigations carried out leave much to be desired The high degree of acquittal is very demoralising for the general public as the offenders get away scot free.

The Chairperson felt that the reasonableness of arrests made by the police should be justifiable He stated that 60 per cent of all arrests made by the police in the country are unnecessary and unjustifiable and 43 per cent of the total jail expenditure in the country is wasted due to such arrests. He said that in Delhi jail, only 10 to 15 per cent of the inmates are convicts and rest are all undertrials. The judiciary has an essential role to play in preventing such a situation from arising and continuing.

Calling for compulsory inspection of jails by District Judges, the Chairperson commented that such inspection do not take place regularly and that they were more formal than effective. Seventy to eighty per cent of deaths in jails of the country are due to the spread of tuberculosis. Proper inspection of jails by the Judges would go a long way in preventing such occurrences.

He stressed the need for massive decriminalisation of offences in the country and the introduction of the system of "plea-bargaining". In many western countries, the latter had been an effective way of reducing the workload in the administration of criminal justice.

The basic concept of human rights, he said, was respect for human dignity. Those in authority should not lose their sense of proportion while exercising their powers. The Chairperson also called for a change in the manner in which courts dealt with witnesses. He said that through they are the "King pins" in the system, they were the ones who are treated most shabbily. He exhorted the officers to "be not merely just, but also be kind".