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Chief Justice of Supreme Court Justice Ramanna
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India Justice NV Ramanna said in a statement on Sunday that police stations are the biggest threat to human rights and human dignity.
Justice Ramanna said that human rights are the most sacred.
The Chief Justice said that despite constitutional guarantees, torture and death in police custody are still prevalent.
He said, “The biggest threat to human rights and human dignity are the police stations. Going by the recent reports, even the privileged are not able to escape third degree treatment.
Justice Ramanna said that a person in police custody does not have immediate legal aid and the first hour of custody usually decides what will happen to the accused.
Justice Ramanna said these things in the program of releasing the app of National Legal Service Authority at Vigyan Bhawan, Delhi.
Addressing the fellow judges, Justice Ramanna said that the deprived section of the country is outside the purview of the system of justice.
He said that if the judiciary has to win the trust of the poor and downtrodden, it has to prove that it exists for those people.
“If the judiciary wants to win the trust of the citizens, then we have to make everyone feel that we exist. For the longest time, the marginalized population has been living outside the purview of the justice system.
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Justice Ramanna accepted that costly and delayed justice discourages poor people from taking refuge in the law. He said that this is also the biggest challenge before the justice system.
He said that if we want to remain in a society governed by the rule of law, then we have to bridge the gap between the underprivileged and the privileged and give justice to all with barbarism.
He also said that our history cannot decide our future and we should remember that the reality of the social and economic system of the country cannot be the reason for not giving rights to anyone.
Justice Ramanna also underlined the digital divide existing in the country or the gap in access of the internet to the population and said that he has written to the government seeking to bridge the digital gap,
He said, “Let us together dream of a future in which there is equal reality. The Access to Justice (Access to Justice) project is a long mission.
Speaking at the National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) program, Justice Ramanna also said that dissemination of information about constitutional rights is also necessary to keep a check on police harassment.
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He said that the right to legal aid and the availability of free legal aid are essential to stop harassment.
“Bar display boards and hoardings at all police stations and jails is a step in the right direction,” he said.
Ramanna also released the app started to provide legal help to the people on this occasion.
This app will be compulsorily installed in the mobile phones of all the people involved in the legal system of the country and the employees associated with the legal institutions.
Through this app, legal officers will be able to fill legal aid forms from any part of the country in a matter of seconds.
Justice Ramanna said that despite the challenge of the Kovid epidemic, we have been able to continue our legal aid services. Implementation of such a tool has ensured that such challenges do not affect the work of legal aid in future.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau data, 1004 custodial deaths were recorded in the country in the last ten years till November 2020.
According to the NCRB data, 69% of these have either been attributed to natural causes or suicide.
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