Criminal Justice system dead
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has sounded the grim warning that the criminal justice system had been subverted, with witnesses being manipulated and trials being hijacked with judges and lawyers remaining “handicapped witnesses”. Making the chilling observation, which to many only confirmed the widely held perception of the erosion of the system, a Bench comprising Justice B.N. Agrawal, G.S. Singhvi and Aftab Alam also said that lower judiciary had decayed. “The courts of magistrate and Munsif have ceased to be an option for the common man”, the Bench said and compared the lower courts to ill-equipped and ill-staffed public health centres (PHCs) in rural areas.
-(Times of India, Feb.7, 2009)
8 out of 10 children are underfed
New Delhi: The slew of development schemes of the UPA haven’t made any change on the ground. The budget for child schemes increased from 2.20% in 2003-2004 of the Union budget to 5.35% in 2008-2009. But between 1998-1999 and 2005-2006, the number of children suffering from malnutrition went up from 15.5% to 19.1% while the number of kids under five with anaemia rose from 74.2% to 79.2%. The proportion of rural population unable to access the required 2,400 calories a day climbed from 75% in 1993-1994 to a record high of 87% by 2004-2005. Razia Ismail of India Alliance for Child Rights said: “Eight out of 10 children are underfed”, In its draft report, FORCES – a national network advocating child rights described the ICDS as a “failure”. As of September 2007, ICDS’s supplementary nutrition scheme reached less than half of the children between 0-6 years.
-(Times of India, Feb.24, 2009)
People lose faith in criminal justice
Bangalore: Police, prosecutors and courts have failed in delivering speedy justice to the victims, which is forcing the latter to take the help of those with criminal background to meet their purpose, said Director-General and Inspector-General of Police Ajai Kumar Singh. Delivering the keynote address at the All India Criminology Conference of Indian Society of Criminology (ISC) on Feb.25, he said: “I feel sad to say about the failure of the criminal justice system. People have lost faith in it as they are not getting justice. They are now going to anti-socials to get their cases settled”.
-(Hindu, Feb.26, 2009)
