Quick compensation for rape victims: Delhi HC
Expressing disapproval at the delay in giving compensation to the rape victims from the government, the Delhi High Court has
asked the Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA) and the Delhi government to create a special “single-window” mechanism for providing immediate compensation to the victims.
The court has directed the DSLSA to work with the divisional commissioner and place a proposal before it by August 6.
Currently, it takes about four to six months from the award of compensation to its receipt. The high court wants the payment to be
received within two weeks.
People not for sale
While it remains illegal in most countries, a trial court in Delhi has stressed on the need for criminalizing the sale of human beings in India as well. Taking note of various cases where women and children have been sold off, the court referred to the recommendations made 21 years ago by the Law Commission, which proposed inserting a provision for imprisonment up to seven years to those selling women and minors.
Currently, the law prohibits the sale of human beings only if done for prostitution, slavery or “exploitation”, which implies that the sale of humans for marriage or adoption is not illegal.
Crocodile in courtroom
A magistrate at the Ahmedabad metropolitan court was in for surprise, when forest department officials presented a two-month-old crocodile as evidence. The crocodile, a Thai Miniature, had been sold by two accused to an Ahmedabad-based doctor. The officials insisted that as “muddamaal” or a seized article, they had to present it before the magistrate.
Questioning the need to bring the animal to court, a perplexed Metropolitan Magistrate, A Desai, asked if they caught a tiger, would they bring it to court?
Collegium on last leg?
The collegium system of selecting judges for the higher judiciary is under serious scrutiny—despite Chief Justice RM Lodha batting for it—and may be on its way out if the recent developments are to be considered.
First, it was the Law Commission chairman AP Shah who said the collegium system lacked transparency and accountability, flouted rules blatantly and smacked of gross favoritism, and needs to be replaced by the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC). This feeling was later echoed at a meeting top jurists, academics, ministers, former chief justices, Shah himself, among others, had with law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to discuss the issue. While favoring a JAC, the members insisted that it should be transparent, have an objective and ensure a perfect balance between the executive and the judiciary. Prasad gave an assurance that judiciary’s independence will not be compromised.
Realizing that the collegium system hasn’t worked, the members wanted the center to fill JAC with able and honest
people who can cleanse the system.
Google to pay fee
A per a new law passed by Spain, news aggregators like Google News will have to pay publishers a fee if they link to their content. This law has been passed with a view to prevent copyright infringement, and has been termed “google fee”. The fine for not paying the publishers will be €30,000 to 300,000. This is second assault on Google in Spain in the last two months, where the “right to be forgotten”movement (wherein a person can demand that all his past references be removed from databases) has already hit the search engine.
Prosecutor problems
The shortage of public prosecutors is a chronic problem in the lower courts of the country. Now a PIL filed by a Delhi-based advocate Manish Khanna has revealed another problem—absenteeism amongst the few public prosecutors. Even though it is the state’s duty to provide sufficient prosecutors, the deficiency leads to frequent adjournments, leading to prolonged incarceration of accused persons jailed under the various non-bailable offenses.
The PIL seeks to fine absentee prosecutors, citing the suffering of the accused in several cases.