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justice for youth and women
former judge saldanha comments on ngo's recommendations for judicial reform
vaishalli chandra. bangalore
with as many as 2.6 crore cases lying pending in courts, the wheels of justice in the country seem to be heading for a screeching halt. concerned about this, observers feel the need to introduce reforms in the judicial system as soon as possible.
it was with this objective in mind that a set of recommendations for judicial reforms, to be submitted to union law minister m veerappa moily soon, were taken up for discussion in the city recently. the recommendations had come about after an ngo, children's rights initiative for shared parenting (crisp), looked into as many as 20,000 cases.
"today, people approach the country's judicial system only as the last resort. as the process has become slow and cumbersome, the public just might start taking the law into its own hands in the near future," crisp president kumar v jahgirdar said. while there were many recommendations, dna selected the three most significant ones and spoke to retired high court judge, justice mf saldanha, on their feasibility levels.
when asked to comment on a recommendation that family courts should have younger judges, justice saldahna gave two viewpoints. "older judges have more experience in the field, and are able to take mature decisions," he said. "however, on the flip side, we are witnessing a slowing down of the process today. there is a need for dynamism that only young judges can bring in," he said.
on demands that women should avail 50% reservation as judges in courts, justice saldanha said, "in the 40 years that i spent working at matrimonial courts as lawyer and judge, i have noticed two things. firstly, women invariably find themselves at the receiving end and, secondly, the harsh attitude of male judges adversely affects the case."
he recalled how he had recommended a three-member family tribunal consisting of a legal expert, a counselor, and a medical officer. "i wanted two out these three members to be women," he said.
justice saldanha agreed with a recommendation stating that changes should be made in existing laws to prevent their misuse. "section 498a of the indian penal code (dowry harassment) states that the accused is guilty until proven innocent," he said, adding that the provision is being grossly misused against husbands and their families.
c_vaishalli@dnaindia.net
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