Safeguard human rights, courts told

By Our Special Correspondent

DEHRA DUN, JUNE 2. Mr. Justice Umesh C. Banerjee of the Supreme Court today called upon the various courts in the country to to safeguard human rights whenever there is any infringement of the Constitutional safeguards. The Apex Court should take cognizance of important issues, even if they are brought to its notice through a `post card', and other courts in the States should follow suit in this crusade for speedy justice.

Delivering the first Justice J. K. Mathur Memorial Lecture to the students of the PG Diploma Course in Human Rights at the Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra Human Rights Centre here, Justice Banerjee urged journalists, lawyers, NGOs, political workers, professionals including the police and administrative officials to understand human rights enjoyed by the people of India and work towards their fulfilment.

Human rights included the right to education, food, health and medical facility, a crime-free society, healthy environment and descent wages for performed labour. Besides the rights, the individuals should also educate themselves to perform the duties towards the nation, Justice Banerjee said.

Similar views were aired by Mr. Justice Shyamal K. Sen, Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, Mr. Justice S. B. Sinha of the Calcutta High Court, Mr. Justice Pradeep Kant of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court and Mr. Justice Bhanwar Singh of the Allahabad High Court.

The participants and students listened with rapt attention as the speakers spoke at length on the topics like Public Interest Litigation and Human Rights, Overview of Human Rights in a Democratic Setup and Human Rights behind Prison Walls.

Prof. Avdhash Kaushal, chairperson of the Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra and a well-known figure in the human rights fora, recalled the fine human being, prolific writer and judge in Justice J. K. Mathur, who passed away on February 2 last. Justice Mathur's last book on P. Ramanatha Aiyar's Code of Criminal Procedure was an invaluable contribution to the judiciary which has been greatly appreciated by various serving and retired judges, he said.

Mr. Alok Mathur, son of Justice J. K. Mathur, and his mother in a separate talk urged people to become workers and not leaders if India were to become a superpower in the coming days.

The PG Diploma Course in Human Rights, recognised by the Visva Bharati University (Santiniketan), was inaugurated on May 27 by Justice Ranganath Mishra, former Chief Justice of India.

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