Succour
for under trials
Sir,
The Code of Criminal
Procedure (Amendment) Act 2005 enabling
under trial prisoners, except those
charged with Section 302 (IPC) or other
such sections, to be released on personal
bonds if they have served more than half
the sentence for the crime they are being
tried for, is a step in the right
direction.
As per the statistics
available, of the 3,20,000 prisoners
lodged in jails across the country
2,80,000 are under trials. This
unfortunate situation is in spite of the
fact that the Supreme Court of India has
time without number maintained that the
right to speedy trial is part of the
guarantee of the Fundamental Right of
Life and Personal Liberty (Article 21).
The Law Commission of India, in its
report of Delays and Arrears in Trails
Courts (1978) had recommended that a
criminal case should be disposed off
within 6 months. However, even after 18
years of the recommendation there has
been negligible progress with regard of
the same is evidenced by the National
Crime Records Bureau Report which says
that only 31 percent Criminal Cases are
completed in less that a year and some
taken even more than 10 years.
Though I appreciate the
spirit behind the incorporation of
Section 21-A in the Code of Criminal
Procedure by virtue of the said amendment
a pertinent question surfaces my mind and
that is: what happens when after spending
years in prison, a person is acquitted
not because there was not enough evidence
or because material witness turned
hostile but because he was actually
innocent. Can the State compensate him
the lost years?
There is another side of the
picture too. If our Jails and over
flowing with under trials, it has been
observed, that majority of them come from
poor backgrounds. Here we must seriously
ponder over the question of the quality
of the justice delivery system. The
Supreme Court of India in the matter of
Hussainara Khattoon (1979) acknowledged
that 'certain people end up sending time
in custody not because they are guilty
but because the courts are too busy to
try them, and they, as the accused, are
too poor to afford bail'. In this context
the Apex Court had laid down guidelines
to enable poor prisoners without having
to arrange for some one to stand as
surety for them before getting bail. In
the Common Cause Case (1996) the Apex
Court had also laid down a set of
guidelines in this context.
Yours
etc...
Predhuman K. Joseph Dhar,
Catholic Journalist.
Promote
Sankrit
Sir,
I full share the views
expressed by Dr. Bharat Bhushan Sharma in
his letter titled 'Vanishking languages'
(D.E, July 20) we, all should be
concerned about the neglect of Sanskrit.
It is the language which is the mother of
many Indian languages. The important
religious scriptures of the vast majority
of Indian population is in Sanskrit. Not
only that, some of the finest literature
available to mankind is in Sanskrit. It
is the only language that is perfectly
suited to computing logic and computers.
The Grammar of Sanskrit is nearly
perfect. With such a great language as
our heritage it is a sad that gradually
we are loosing it. The continuous apathy
and neglect by the people who were and
who are at the helm of affairs has turned
it into a nearly dead language. There are
many NGO's and organisations who are
tirelessly working towards its
propagation but a concerted Government
effort is needed badly. Hope it happens
soon.
Yours
etc...
Tej Krishen Razdan
Roop Nagar
Jammu
Migrants
Sir,
The recent court order to
treat Jammu migrants at par with Kashmiri
migrants is the result of a sustained
struggle waged by Jammu migrants. Like
their Kashmiri counterparts they too have
suffered a great deal at the hands of the
militants. Hundreds of them have been
mercilessly killed and injured in
militancy related attracts in the far
flung areas of Doda, Kishtwar, Bhadarwah,
Poonch, Rajouri and Udhampur . But the
moot point is what is the long term plan
of the Government vis-a-vis the
rehabilitation of the migrants whether
they are from Jammu or Kashmir. We are
want to know.
Yours
etc...
Ashok Gupta
Kacchi-Chowni
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