Under the Protection of Human Rights Act (PHRA), 1993, Human Rights Courts are specialized judicial bodies designed to provide a "speedy trial" for offenses arising from human rights violations at the grassroots level.
While the NHRC and SHRCs are primarily recommendatory and investigatory bodies, these courts are the punitive arm—they have the power to try and punish offenders.
1. Legal Basis (Section 30)
According to Section 30 of the Act, the State Government, with the concurrence of the Chief Justice of the High Court, may specify a Court of Session in each district to serve as a Human Rights Court.
Purpose: To ensure that human rights cases are not buried in the massive backlog of regular criminal courts.
Exclusion: A separate Human Rights Court is not specified if a "Special Court" already exists for that offense under another law (e.g., SC/ST Act courts or POCSO courts).
2. Appointment of Special Public Prosecutor (Section 31)
For every Human Rights Court, the State Government must appoint a Special Public Prosecutor to conduct the cases.
Eligibility: The person must be an advocate who has been in practice for not less than seven years.
Role: Their duty is to ensure that the state effectively prosecutes those accused of violating an individual's "life, liberty, equality, and dignity."
3. Jurisdiction and Powers
These courts are essentially existing Courts of Session that have been "designated" with additional responsibilities.
Trial of Offenses: They try "offenses arising out of violations of human rights."
Legal Ambiguity: One challenge is that the Act does not strictly define which specific IPC (or BNS) crimes constitute a "human rights offense," though courts usually interpret this as cases involving custodial torture, police brutality, or illegal detention.
No comments:
Post a Comment