‘Need to sensitise judges for cases related to crime against women’

Judges have to be sensitised about securing out speedy justice in cases related to crime against women, elders, children and discrimination against HIV-infected persons, Punjab and Haryana HC Chief Justice AK Sikri said.

New Delhi: Judges have to be sensitised about securing out speedy justice in cases related to crime against women, elders, children and discrimination against HIV-infected persons, Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice AK Sikri on Saturday said.

Speaking on the recent gang-rape case of a 23-year-old girl in Delhi, Justice Sikri said there was much debate whether India has a proper legal system or reforms are needed in the law and how to sensitize judges to have speedy justice. "There are cases where vulnerable group of society is involved, like crime against women, elderlies, disabled persons, discrimination against HIV-infected, rights of children, child labour and right to education. The judges have to be sensitised about carrying speedy justice in these cases. "The approach of the judge in these cases has to be totally different. We need a socially relevant adjudication process for speedy delivery of justice and the mindset has to be changed," he said, speaking at a seminar on `Technology to Enable Accessible and Speedy Justice`. He added all these things can be imparted through judicial education, which is very important, to the judges. For increasing the efficiency and productivity, he said apart from increasing judges, technology is going to be of much help. Releasing a book `Developing the discourse on Judicial Education`, Justice Sikri said it would give insights to the judges to cope with situations that unfold while deciding about the cases. Referring to the role of technology in bringing about paradigm changes in the working of courts and in speeding up the carriage of justice, he said computerization would lead to paperless courts and would greatly improve the record-keeping and e-filing of cases, apart from improving the productivity of the judges several fold. PTI