Southern States - Karnataka   

'Crime victims' rights should be protected'

By Our Special Correspondent

DHARWAD NOV. 16. Seeking truth is fundamental to the criminal justice system, the Chairman of the Committee on Reforms in the Criminal Justice System, Justice V.S. Malimath, has said.

Speaking at the 88th birthday celebrations of Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, organised by Jagrit Bharat here on Saturday evening, Mr. Justice Malimath said a hue and cry had been raised over the report of the committee.

Mr. Justice Malimath said that while everybody wanted the fundamental rights of the accused to be protected, care should also be taken to protect the rights of the victims. There were many ways through which the accused could escape punishment. The witness could turn hostile. But the fact remained that the victim had lost his near and dear ones and questions such as who killed them remained unanswered. Answers to these questions could be found through the "inquisitorial" system practised by some countries. But India followed the "adversarial" system, he said.

Mr. Justice Malimath said that without affecting the fundamental rights of the accused, it was possible to find the truth and punish the accused. He said the judiciary had been evolved to provide justice to the aggrieved at the earliest. If cases dragged on for years, people were likely to lose faith in the judicial system. He said the view that the criminal justice system was crumbling under its own weight should be examined seriously and corrective action should be taken. There was no need to adhere to the old system, and changes should be made to meet the aspirations of the people.

Mr. Justice Malimath said his committee had made 158 recommendations. He said he was glad that the recommendations of the committee were being debated all over the nation.

Veeranna Tigadi, Principal District and Sessions Judge, Dharwad, presided over the function. C. Rajasekhar, Dean of the Faculty of Law of Karnatak University, and Chidanand Reddy, Principal of the University College of Law, spoke.

A.C. Chakalabbi, advocate, welcomed the gathering.

Venkatesh Kulkarni, Editor of Jagrit Bharat, spoke.

A book, "V.R. Krishna Iyer: The pride of India," which contains an article by Michael Kirby, President of the Court of Appeals of the Supreme Court of Australia, was released on the occasion. The book written by Mr. Venkatesh Kulkarni also lists the names of 44 books written by Mr. Justice Iyer.

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