On Sunday, the Chief Justice of India, N.V. Ramana said that police stations pose the “highest threat” to human rights and dignity, which are ‘sacrosanct.’
“The threat to human rights and bodily integrity is the highest in police stations… Going by recent reports, even the privileged are not spared third-degree treatment,” the Chief Justice said.
The CJI while speaking at the release of the National Legal Services Authority’s legal services app and vision statement at Vigyan Bhawan, said that custodial torture and police atrocities still prevail despite constitutional guarantees.
Further, he added that the lack of effective legal representation at police stations was a huge detriment to arrested or detained persons and that the first hours of arrest or detention often decided the fate of the case for the accused.
He also advised his fellow judges. The CJI noted that if the judiciary wanted to gain the trust of the poor and vulnerable, it had to assure the marginalised that it existed for them.
He also said that for the longest time, the vulnerable sections have lived outside the system of justice.
“If judiciary wants to garner the faith of the citizens, we have to make everyone feel assured that we exist for them. For the longest time, the vulnerable population has lived outside the system of justice,” he said.
He added that lengthy, expensive formal processes followed by courts dissuaded the poor and the vulnerable. The judiciary’s toughest challenge today was to break these barriers, CJI Ramana said.
“If we want to remain as a society governed by the rule of law, it is imperative for us to bridge the gap of accessibility to justice between the highly privileged and the most vulnerable. For all times to come, we must remember that the realities of socio-economic diversity which prevail in our nation cannot ever be a reason for denial of rights. Let our past not determine our future…”
The Chief Justice also noted that the digital divide had not helped the cause of easy access to justice. He said that rural and remote areas suffered from lack of connectivity.
“Accessing justice in India is not merely an aspirational goal. We need to work hand in hand with various wings of the government to make it a practical reality.”
He said that he had already written to the government about the urgent need to bridge the digital chasm “on a priority basis.”
“Let us dream of a future based on legal mobility, a future where equality is a reality. That is why the project ‘Access to Justice’ is an unending mission,” he said.