Faced with trials, courts set bar high

The panic spread by the Coronavirus has revamped the Indian judiciary system and taught the people to adapt to new challenges. 
Madras High Court (File photo | EPS)
Madras High Court (File photo | EPS)

MADURAI: The year that will soon be past, 2020, will go down in history as a year of turmoil. But, it has a few positives as well. The panic spread by the Coronavirus has revamped the Indian judiciary system and taught the people to adapt to new challenges. 

Even while petitions relating to local body elections, which were held at the end of 2019, and subsequent jallikattu celebrations, were eating into court’s time in January, there were developments on the administrative side with the commissioning of a section for gender sensitisation committee and the discontinuation of printing and distribution of causelist.

On January 29, Justice GR Swaminathan came to the rescue of a soon-to-be married couple from Kumbakonam by granting bail to the groom after he was arrested in a ‘foisted’ case, just days before his wedding. Though under trials are not released after 6 pm, the judge considered it a special case and granted him relief.

On February 5, the same judge fed two birds with one scone by directing petitioners, who pay penalty in illegal sand mining and other cases for obtaining bail or anticipatory bail, to deposit the amount in favour of a government observation home in Madurai that was reeling under fund crunch.

Three days later, Justice AD Jagadish Chandira adopted a novel way to reform two groups of engineering students booked for engaging in a clash by directing them to clean the general ward of a government hospital in Tiruchy.

Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana told government to form policies to establish Homes for destitute women and victims of sexual assaults within two months, on February 25, while allowing termination of pregnancy of a minor of unsound mind. Due to the lockdown, the court’s functions were restricted from March 18 and only urgent cases were heard online. Attempts to resume physical hearing in June were given up after a few judges and staff tested positive. But proceedings continued online.

On June 16, Justice Swaminathan helped some foreign nationals, detained by police for allegedly engaging in religious propagation during lockdown, breathe air of freedom. When a tragedy struck Thoothukudi the next week with custodial death of two traders P Jeyaraj and his son Beniks, a division bench of Justices PN Prakash and B Pugalendhi took suo motu cognisance of the incident and periodically monitored the probe.

On July 20, Justices M Sathyanarayanan and B Pugalendhi took cognisance of reports including TNIE’s report about delay in getting Covid results and instructed government that even ‘Covid negative’ results must be intimated to people.

Two judgments, reminding the government of the guidelines to be followed during autopsy, were passed in October and December. Justice N Kirubakaran broke down in tears in middle of the hearing over the plight of government school students who aspire to study medicine. Later, the government passed a G.O. executing 7.5 percent quota.

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