REPORT ON VISIT TO COURT
INDEX
1. Introduction
2.Architecture of the court
3.Personal Oservation
4.Delhi Legal Service Authority
5.Mediation Centre
6.Family courts
7. Court of Small Causes
8.Criminal Courts
9.Vulnerable Witness Room
10. Mahila Court
11.Question and Answer Session
12. Appreciation and Recommenations
INTRODUCTION
District Courts in Delhi are located at six places.Saket is on of them.The District
court of Saket is one of the finest court houses of the entire India. It started
functioning from 28th August 2010. It is basically a huge court complex consisting
of both civil and criminal courts.The Work of Civil and Criminal cases related to
South Civil District and South and South East Police Districts hitherto being taken
up at Patiala House Courts Complex come under jurisdiction of saket court from
2010.We were fourtunate enough to visit different brances of court namely-Mediation
centre,Family courts,Court of small causes,Criminal courts,Vulnerable witness room
etc..about which I have described briefly in the following portion of report.
ARCHITECTURE OF THE COURT
Saket court complex should definitely be considerd as one of the greatest monuments
of modern architecture. It is a seven storeyed building with 81 court rooms.Saket
Court Complex consists of 68 Courts, Family Court, Delhi Legal Services Authorities
Office and various other branches and Lawyers Chambers. First of all, I was simply
surprised looking at the building itself.
There are clear signs to find your way around without any confusion. The court
buildings are very clean and comfortable.There are waiting areas for visitors with
ample seating space for litigants,lawyers and audience inside and outside the court
rooms and court halls of main building.
We were quite impressed with the proper maintainance of court.Coming to
Infrastructure, it is of high standards and all the court rooms are almost air
conditioned.One more interesting thing I have found is that cases that are to be
heard for the day are displayed clearly outside the court room.The court staff and
advocates allotted to guide us were very helpful and clarified all our doubts with
a lot of patience.Even the faculty lecturer was quite helpful in making us
understand the entire mechanism of Court functioning.
PERSONAL OBSERVATION
This visit would definitely be a very memorable and delightful experience.For a
minute, I felt like Okay,Wait! Am I really in a court???Because, the reality is
very very far away from my common assumptions and expectations of a court that are
formed on the baisis of movies I have watched. The entire procedure was being
organised very professionally without any screaming or any disturbance of that
sort.All my observations are scattered as I have mentioned my personal observations
of each and every place that we have seen specifically.
INTERACTION WITH JUDGES
We have got an opportunity to interact with Judge-in-Charge of Mediation cente,
Mr.Vinay Kumar Khanna. That interaction was no doubt an enriching one.He busted out
the most common myth about judges that they are always serious or aggresive by
being so casual and spontaneous.We have learnt that 25-30 cases are received by the
mediation centre everyday on an average.He also told how well all the mediators are
trained before appointments are being made. He answered all our questions in a very
friendly manner.
Also,Judge of Court of Small Causes,Mr.Jai Tareja had shared his experiences as a
judge.He explained us the difficulties of a judge because a judge is always on the
receiving end of negativity that prevails in the court environment.Looking at the
bright side,he also mentioned about positives like privileges and the sense of
power and authority attached to position of a judge.Also,he solved a property
related case infront of us with his wit andwisdom.
DELHI LEGAL SERVICE AUTHORITY
BACKGROUND
Legal aid is an essential part of the Administration of Justice.
Three important constitutional provisions behind origin of NALSA :
i)Towards fulfilling the promise made in our preamble on securing to all the
citizens, Justice – social, economic and political,
ii)Article 39 A of the Constitution of India provides for free legal aid to the
poor and weaker sections of the society, to promote justice on the basis of equal
opportunity.
iii)Articles 14 and 22(1) of the Constitution also make it obligatory for the State
to ensure equality before law.
In 1987, the Legal Services Authorities Act was enacted by the Parliament, which
came into force on 9th November, 1995 to establish a nationwide uniform network for
providing free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the
society.Public awareness, equal opportunity and deliverable justice are the
cornerstones on which the edifice of NALSA is based.
“Access to Justice for All” is the motto of the Delhi Legal Services Authority.
Delhi State Legal Services Authority erstwhile Delhi Legal Aid & Advice Board has
been constituted by the same NALSA Act passed in 1987.
For the purpose of administrative convenience and segregation of work &
records,DSLSA has been divided into 4 different Wings.They are as follows:
1.Establishment Wing - It has different sections under it.
a)Administrative section coordinates central office with other departments
b)Accounts section manages funds that are received from government.
2.Legal Aid Wing - This wing provides a variety of services from free legal aid
for under priviliged(Panel lawyers are arranged to take up their issues) to
counselling sessions to victims of sexual violence.
3.Lok Adalat Wing - Delhi State Legal Services Authority organizes Lok Adalats for
settlement of all types of pending and pre-litigation Civil and Criminal
Compoundable cases regularly every month
4.Legal Literacy Wing - It is this absence of legal awareness which is responsible
for the deception, exploitation and deprivation of rights and benefits, from which
the people suffer in the state.The miserable condition in which the people find
themselves can be alleviated to some extent by creating legal awareness amongst the
people.Awareness programmes are conducted at schools,colleges,police training
institutes,juvenile welfare offices,old age homes.In this way,Legal Literacy
Missions are implemented. This wing publicizes its evnts through print and
electronic Media as well.
PERSONAL OBSERVATION
DSLSA office was the first place we have visited. We were welcomed by the front
office advocates and staff. After division of students into three different
batches,each batch was allotted an advaocate from Front Office. He first explained
the functions of DSLSA and then took us to front office. He briefed us the
procedure to apply for provision of free legal aid service.He also told us that not
everyone can apply for free services. Therefore, we got to know that there is a
criteria fixed regarding who all are eligible to avail the free services provided
by DSLSA.
MEDIATION
It is an attempt at resolving a dispute by settlement with the assistance of a
Mediator who is a neutral third party. The most important feature of mediation is
that meetings are completely "confidential" and may not be disclosed even to Judge
hearing the case.
The mediator may be :
• A judicial officer (retired or sitting judge)
• An Advocate
• An otherwise trained professional.
JOB OF A MEDIATOR is to assist the parties in arriving at an amicable solution.
Mediation provides an opportunity for each participant to express their view of the
case to the other participants and how they would like to approach settlement.
These negotiations help them to reach a mutually acceptable agreement. The parties
need not agree to the terms of settlement, if they are not satisfied.
Formal procedures as in a Court or arbitration are completely absent in
mediation proceedings and provides for an open discussion of the issues and
determine a solution accordingly.Judges and arbitrators make decisions that are
imposed on parties but a mediator helps the parties to evaluate the probable
outcome of a dispute and
then leads them to an acceptable settlement.
BENEFITS OF MEDIATION
1.Saves a lot of time,efforts,energy and most importantly money.
2.Creates a win-win situation for both the parties.
3. Allows more flexibility to derive a quick solution.
4. Enables a better understanding of the case
PERSONAL OBSERVATION
Frankly speaking, I was not even aware of the the fact there exists something
called Mediation Centre until the visit.I was quite impressed with infrastructure
especially the furniture, the seperate individual chambers provided for the
officers and soft music that was being played made the entire atmosphere more
peaceful.
FAMILY COURTS
Our judiciary deals with a broad spectrum of issues such as family matters and
property which continue for generations. Such cases continue for atrocious periods
of time, ranging from 7 years to 30 years. In such a scenario, the channeling of
cases to different courts set up specially for this purpose ensures speedy disposal
and effective redressal.
BACKGROUND
The Family Courts Act, 1984 provides for establishment of Family courts by
the State Governments in consultation with the High Courts to resolve disputes
concerning the family through this alternate adjudication forum.The need to
establish the Family Courts was first emphasized by the late Smt. Durgabai
Deshmukh. In 1953, she made a proposal to set up Family Courts in India.
JURISDICTION OF FAMILY COURTS
i. Matrimonial relief, including nullity of marriage, judicial separation,divorce,
restitution of conjugal rights, or declaration as to the validity of a marriage or
as to the matrimonial status of any person.
ii. declaration as to the validity of marriage and matrimonial status of the person
iii. The property of the spouses or either of them,
iv. Guardianship of a person or the custody of any minor,
v. Maintenance of wife, children or parents)
CHILDREN ROOM
Family courts have been designed keeping in mind not only the requirements of aduts
but also children who are required to visit court to visit one of the seperated
parents.These rooms are well furnished and well equipped to make sure they interact
with each other in a comforting atmosphere.There are toys for children to play and
they are provided with snacks.
COUNSELLING
The family court aims to sustain and retain the institution of Family with a
number of counselling sessions and hence courts are equipped with counsellors and
psychologists as there is also a human and psychological dimension to be dealt with
in these matters. The role of the counsellors is not limited to counselling but
extends to reconciliation and mutual settlement wherever deemed feasible.
FACILITATION CENTRE
At this Centre,there was a Public relation officer, trained member of the staff to
assist us in providing information about court work,its proceedings,status of
case,date of hearing etc.. is made available to litigants, lawyers and general
public. An important point to be noted is that no legal advice will be provided by
them.
COPYING AGENCY
Here,fresh certified copies of applications are accepted and delivers the ready
copies from their respective counters to court rooms.However, we got to know that
there is a seperate filing counter where all the complaints are filed.This agency
only delivers the copies of documents related to the Judicial Case Files on
application.We have seen both these places in the family court.
PERSONAL OBSERVATION
We could not witness the proceedings as the judge of family court was on leave.
After seeing the atmosphere of family court,I have realised that our Indian
judiciary is well concerned about Children and impact of these bitter court
proceedings on the young minds.So, main PURPOSE behind setting up these Courts is
to take the cases dealing with family matters away from the intimidating atmosphere
of regular courts and ensure that a congenial environment is set up to deal with
matters such as marriage, divorce, alimony, child custody etc. I personally felt
that seperation of family issues from civil cases and having family courts is a
very good intension.Establishment of children room and organising counselling
sessions with the help of pschycologists with a hope of reunion are really
thoughtful.
CRIMINAL COURT
BACKGROUND
The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) constitutes India's substantive criminal law.
Later on it was repealed and a new Code of Criminal Procedure,1974 (CrPC) was
enacted to carry out the process of the administration and enforcement of criminal
law.In addition to it,the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 was enacted to guide the
process of investigation and trial.
POLICE CASES
When an FIR is registered and the accused is arrested in bailable matter he will
be produced before the Court from where he may be released on furnishing a bail.
When the magistrate directs,Officer-in-charge of police station starts the
investigation and submits reort. And then an inquiry is conducted by court. Based
on it charge is framed and then begins the Trial, judicial determination of a
person's guilt or innocence.It involves examination and determination of the cause
by a judicial tribunal, and which ends in conviction or acquittal of the accused.
In non-bailable matters, the person arrested by the police is to be produced before
the Magistrate within 24 hours of his arrest and if further custodial interrogation
is required, the police official may request for remand, otherwise, the person is
sent to Judicial custody in Jail.
PRIVATE COMPLAINT CASES
In minor offences,the aggrieved person is required to file a complaint in the Court
of concerned Magistrate. Even in cognizable offences, where police refuses to
register an FIR, the victim can approach the court of Magistrate
and file a complaint. The court may direct for registration of an FIR or
otherwise it will record evidence of the complainant and his witnesses and if
it is found that there is some substance in the complaint, the other party will
be summoned and heard.
STAGES OF TRIAL
Based on the information provided by our front office advocate, following are the
stages of trial
1.After filing of the criminal complaint,if accused are asked to present by issuing
summons to them and notices.
2.When the magistrate directs,Officer-in-charge of police station starts the
investigation and submits report.
3.And then an inquiry is conducted by court.
4. Based on it charge is framed i.e.,substance of the offences alleged against the
person facing the trial will be put to him and then begins the Trial,the judicial
determination of a person's guilt or innocence.It involves examination and he will
be asked whether he admits his guilt or not.
4. If accused admits the guilt, he will be punished accordingly and if he does not
accept his guilt, the prosecution will be given a chance to examine the witnesses
to prove its case.
5.Once the witnesses have been examined, the entire substance of the evidence will
be put to the accused and his replies will be recorded in the statement of the
accused.
6.The person facing a trial also has a right to get his own witnesses examined in
the Court to prove his innocence in defence evidence.
7. After completion of the evidence, final arguments will be heard and case will be
decided accordingly.
PERSONAL OBSERVATION
By the time we visited this particular court, judgement was already delivered.
However,we have observed that the judge was dictating the judgment to a person
sitting on the podium just below her. We got to know that he is called
Stenographer.
A STENOGRAPHER or court reporter, works in the courtroom and transcribes spoken
words of judge and prepares the order.
A lady was standing beside the judge. She is called AHLMAD and her duty is to sort
out all the files and prepare the rough list of cases to be heard by the judge in a
day.
Handling files,Calling cases,Collection of evidences like signatures or thumb
impressions are different jobs performed by READER.He is basically the care taker
of the court.
All this information about staff was provided to us by the judge himself.
CIVIL COURTS
BACKGROUND
These courts generally deal with issues of property, business,breach of contracts,
wrongs committed in money transactions,minor omissions etc.. The first uniform Code
of Civil Procedure was enacted in 1859. The present Code of Civil Procedure was
enacted in 1908.Court of small causes is a kind of civil court generally
established in metropolitan cities.
COURT OF SMALL CAUSES
Presidency Small Causes Court Act of 1882 provides for establishment of these
courts by State government within its territory.As the name suggests, they deal
with civil cases of small value and its financial jurisdiction does not exceed 25
Lakh rupees.Court of small causes is responsible for adjudicating matters of civil
nature especially property,rent, license,tax and other such disputes. This court is
presided over by chief judge who is in the same cadre of district judge.
JURISDICTION
1.Property recovery cases
2. Injunction matters
3. Title suits
4.Declaration suits
5.Trade marks,patent and copyright cases
WITNESS OF PROCEEDINGS
We witnessed a case in which there was petioner standing on one side and respondent
on the other side.We did not get to know completely about the case but as far as I
understood,the man was demanding a sum of 65,000/- from a lady and she was seeking
for a compromise. She was willing to pay only 60,000/- Lawyer on her side requested
the judge to send the case to mediation centre but the judge rejected to transfer
it and somehow sorted out the issue and sent them away.
PERSONAL OBSERVATION
We asked judge the reason for not sending the case to mediation centre, he quickly
replied by saying that if an issue can be solved here itself by compromise there is
no need to waste a lot of time, energy and efforts by transfering it to mediation
centre.Moreover, there was no huge differnce between money demanded and money she
was willing to pay. It was a matter of just 5000/-
At this point of time I have realised that judges should act with both wiseness and
spontaneity.Only then good judgements can be delivered.
One more interesting thing we have noticed is that there are a couple of police
officers in criminal court but we didnt find any police officer in civil court.
This made it very clear that police officers are concerned with criminal matters
but not civil cases.After making comparison between civil and criminal courts,We
have learnt that proceedings and lay out are fairly similar.
VULNERABLE WITNESS ROOM
Vulnerable Witness – is a child who has not completed 18 years of age.
Under circumstances of intimidating criminal justice system, a vulnerable witness
may provide weak testimony and less information than should have been
elicited.Vulnerable witnesses shall receive high priority and shall be handled as
expeditiously as possible, minimizing unnecessary delays and continuances.
LIVE LINK provides electronic means whereby a witness, while absent from the
courtroom is nevertheless present in the court room by remote communication using
technology to give evidence and be cross-examined.
IN-CAMERA PROCEEDINGS where public and press are not allowed to participate, for
good reason to protect the privacy of the vulnerable witness. A screen or
other device be placed in the courtroom in such a manner that the child cannot see
the
accused while testifying.
PERSONAL OBSERVATION
This place is one which truly touched my heart and Indian judiciary deserves
genuine appreciation for establishment of this sort of special set up for
vulnerable witnesses.A guardian will take care of their needs in court.Courts have
taken the complete responsiblity to make sure a safe environment is created for
children who have underdone immense trauma.We have seen toys arranged for kids to
play in the room.The room has books, TV, etc. which can help them lower their
anxiety.This will ensure that trial process is less traumatic and minimise further
victimisation.It is also necessary to pay special attention to these kind of
isues.Further, the lengthy proceedings can affect the psychological development of
vulnerable witnesses and disable this sensitivity in significant and long-lasting
ways.Therefore special arrangements like live link, on-camera proceedings are
madefor them.The kind of care and concern shown by courts is highly
applaudable.This vulnerable witness room has clearly shown the empathetic angle of
our judicial sysetem.
MAHILA COURT
BACKGROUND
The concept of Mahila court is a fairly recent but increasingly prevalent
phenomenon in contemporary India. Mahila courts can be considered as a particular
kind of alternative dispute-resolution forum specifically designed to address
women's marital and related family problems.These courts are headed by experienced
women judges and magistrates and the staff employed in such courts is also
predominantly female.
PURPOSE
Mahila Courts serve the following purposes:
1.The main aim is to provide a safe and unthreatening environment wherein women can
air their grievances, work out satisfactory settlements with husbands and in-laws,
or find ways to escape their difficult situations altogether.
2.They speedily deal with and dispose off cases pertaining to women fighting legal
battles especially after matrimonial discord.
3.It encourages women to resolve domestic disputes informally, rather than by
resort to the state's judicatory institutions which can be highly inconvinient for
women for obvious reasons.
4.They also deal with the cases of kidnapping (Sec: 363 I.P.C), procuring minor
girls for the purpose of prostitution, rape (Sec: 376 I.P.C.) and cruelty by
husband or in-laws (Sec: 498-A I.P.C)
ONE STOP CENTRE
Women have always been victims of sexual harassment, sexual assault, domestic
violence, trafficking, honour related crimes, acid attacks or witch-hunting etc..
These centres are intended to support women affected by violence, in private and
public spaces, within the family, community and at the workplace.Women facing
physical, sexual, emotional, psychological and economic abuse, irrespective of age,
class, caste, education status, marital status, race and culture will be
facilitated with support and redressal. A wide range of services including from
medical, legal, psychological services to counselling support are provided to
women.Due to time constraint, we could not visit this centre but then we got to
know about it through some of our friends.
QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION
After visiting all these places, a question and answer session was arranged in a
conference hall in which students asked various questions like prevalence of sexism
in judiciary etc..They were all well answered by a District and sessions judge,
Neena Krishna Bansal. this was followed by address of secretary of DSLSA. She
delivered a valuable speech in the end after which we were served some
refreshments.
APPRECIATION AND SUGGESTIONS
1.STRENGTH OF JUDGES
If we look at the ratio of pending cases and legal professionals available,India
has just 13 judges per million of its population. That's a very low number, while
most developed countries have 50 and some even more than 100. What this means is
that the first thing the government has to do is increase the number of judges.And
also,There are many vacancies which are currently left unfilled in India as a
result of the executive-judiciary tussle. There is need to treat judicial
appointments like those to any other government post and ensure that vacancies in
the judiciary is filled promptly.
2.COMPUTERISATION-
Delhi District Judiciary is the most modern judicial organization of India.It has
achieved 100% computerization of its operations in 2005. Judiciary can maintain its
accountabilty by extending this task of computerisation to all over India.
Saket court is a model court that rest of our Indian courts can look upto.
3. VIDEO CONFERENCING -
Delhi Judiciary is also equipped with Video Conference Courts to try undertrials
lodged in various Jails all over India.It is always not possible for everyone to
attend the proceedings due to various reasons and emergency situations. Hence,
Video conferencing is a very good technique to resolve the issue despite physical
absence of one of the parties.Technological devices really help in speedy disposal
of cases.
4.MODERNISATION OF COURT
Our courts should be fully digitised and technical experts should be brought in to
streamline the whole process right from when a person files a case, to updating it,
to the final verdict.Internet can be a good tool if used judiciously. Cause Lists,
List of cases to be heard,Daily Orders and Judgments are to be made available on
the internet.
5.REPORT MAKING-
In December 2005, Hon’ble Chief Justice of India released the ‘Case
Management Manual’ and ‘Annual Report 2004’ of Delhi District Judiciary.
Again, Delhi Judiciary is the only District Judiciary in India to publish its own
Annual Report and Case Management Manual. These reports would be very helpful to
evaluate the functional of courts and hence this concept of report making should be
adopted by all other courts of our country.
6.LEGAL PRACTITIONERS IN FAMILY COURTS
There is a provision that dispute before a Family Court shall not be entitled, as
of right, to be represented by a legal practitioner. However, the Court may, in the
interest of justice, seek assistance of a legal expert as amicus curiae,
7.TO KEEP COURTS OPEN THROUGH OUT THE YEAR
Times have changed and today people are active round the clock. But the Indian
judiciary still works in the early fashion. They have summer vacations, winter
vacations and a lot of other leaves. It is just not accepted when we are carrying
the baggage of three crore backlog cases. In fact, the special night shift
magistrate needs to be implemented so that people need not wait till the courts
open. The government needs to get it straight that the Indian Judicial system
should get the status of an emergency service.
8.TO DO AWAY WITH ARCHAIC LAWS
Indian Judiciary had come into existence after India earned her independence in
1947. The laws were made as per the societal condition then. But in recent times, a
lot of law has become redundant. Hence, it is time that the Indian Judicial system
does away with the archaic laws and takes into consideration the present social
condition before giving a judgment.It took a lot of time and efforts for judiciary
to eliminate colonial era laws like decremalisation of homosexuality. There are
many such laws like sedition laws which are to be looked into and abolish them as
early as possible.
9.OPENING OF LEGAL LITERACY CLUBS
On 27th October, 2014, Delhi State Legal Services Authority inaugurated ‘Mass Legal
Literacy Campaign’ and ‘Opening of Legal Literacy Clubs in Schools and Colleges’ at
Plenary Hall, Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi by Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India. This
is a highly noteworthy intitiative of DSLSA.Other states must and should borrow
this idea. Promotion of legal literacy in our society is very essential. It is only
through legal awareness, one can avail the services offered by our judiciary.
