Dear All,
The following appeared in "Hindustan Times", New Delhi Edition on May 07,2009, page no. 06.
The HC might as well allow, other liberties. The judiciary however never considered to compulsorily do away with the presence of the Accused, till the actual Trial starts. Seems, a houseful jammed packed courtroom, looks better and has a different status then a roomy and less-accused filled court room. It gives a look of aristocracy anf further shows on the QUANTITY of criminals / litigants in India (sic).
Pun Intended.
Keep Smiling ... HemantAgarwal (9820174108)
SITTING DOWN is OK if you can't stand a trial ... Delhi HC
It's OK if you can't stand a trial ... You can always sit through one, says the HC
IF AN accused is indeed innocent until proved guilty, why should he or she be punished by making him stand through a court proceeding when all others sit? Not any more.
The Delhi High Court has issued a notification removing the rule after a public interest litigation (PIL) contended it "violated the fundamental rights of an accused".
Soon, undertrials in courts across the Capital will be allowed to sit in courtrooms.
The PL filed by lawyers Avadh Bihari Kaushik and R K Saini was prompted by an incident where an undertrial who had been standing for hours together in the court collapsed and became unconscious during her cross-examination two years ago. "The accused in a criminal trial shall be permitted to sit down during the trial unless it becomes neces- sary for the accused to stand up for any specif ic purpose such as identification", said the circular issued by Registrar General Ajit Bharihoke.
Saini reminded the court that the Delhi HC was yet to amend its rules despite the Supreme Court in Avtar Singh's case in 1981 directing all High Courts to make necessary provisions in their criminal manual allowing accused to sit in courts.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice AP Shah and Justice Neeraj Kishan Kaul on Wednesday directed the government to publish the notification in the gazette as early as possible.
