Plea to set up special benches for human rights cases

There is need to set up special benches in the high court for hearing cases relating to human rights violations, cyber crimes and Economic offences, Kerala home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said today.

"Cyber cases are increasing in the state. Lot of problems on this issue has come up before police. A cyber cell has been formed, which was working well. But when cases are registered, problems arise," he said.

The laws which have gone obsolete needs to be amended and there should be an intervention from the judiciary in this regard, he said in his inaugural address at a seminar on 'Development of Law and Justice perspective', organised as part of the Kerala high court day celebrations.

The government was actively considering the Krishna Iyer commission report on law reforms. But due to many reasons, this process was getting delayed. The legislature was not spending sufficient time for law making process, he lamented.

Stressing the need for new courts, he said the government had sanctioned two family courts and a sub court in the last budget. "There is need for consensus between Judiciary and Executive on the setting up of new courts to avoid delays."

Kerala high court chief justice SR Bannurmath said the very fact that every year there was an increase in the number of persons approaching courts for justice, shows that they still had faith in judiciary. Justice Bannurmath said cases are pending for years in courts giving the impression that courts are responsible for the delays. It is not as if judges are not making efforts or lawyers are coming in the way of justice delivery system, he said.

Non-availability of properinfrastructure, lack of enough trained staff have added to the problems of delayed justice, he said. Skilled and expert hands are needed for management of courts.

The role of convictions in India was hardly 15 to 20% compared to US, UK and Germany where it was 70% to 90%, he said.

Unless the bench, the bar and the government come together, the frustation of the litigants would not only increase, but will lead to law being taken into their hands,he said.