#Rajasthan -Headless court: No judge to hear PCPNDT cases


DNA | Jan 10, 2013, 04:31AM IST

Jaipur:In July last year, a wired media, screaming activists and Aamir Khan’s final cut all jolted the CM into announcing seven special courts in each of the divisional headquarters for “speedy disposal” of cases booked under the PCPNDT Act to check sex selection . The agitation was quelled. The media moved on. The activists moved on. And Aamir Khan moved out.
A visit to the ‘special’ PCPNDT court in Jaipur seven months later, is instructive.
The court does not have a presiding officer. In simple terms, it has no judge to hear the cases, for the last one month or so. “Transferred, but not replaced,” comes the reply. Of the 130 cases registered so far, none of them pertain to the relatives or parents who went in for sex-selective abortion. All the cases – against sonography centres or doctors for not maintaining records, formats under the Act and those caught in decoy operations – are in the initial stage of “pre-charge” or “evidence”. That means, far from reaching any conclusion.
There is one assistant public prosecutor, himself on additional charge from another court, who has to handle the cases single handedly. This includes calling witnesses for summons from anywhere in the five districts falling under Jaipur division, using his own phone. And he has to do all this without any table or chair.
“The doctors bring senior lawyers, with swanky laptops. We don’t even have a phone, leave alone computer. There is no place to sit, either for me or people. The witnesses coming from other districts not only bear hardships, but also all the expenses,” said Ramesh Kumar Atal, the sole assistant public prosecutor in PCPNDT court. Hearings are fixed weekly, he added.
A PCPNDT Bureau of Investigation was set up under the medical and health department for “effective implementation of the Act”. 120 news posts were created. They are all lying vacant.
In the PCPNDT cell of the department, the staff is working overtime in collating, tallying and feeding information online. The small team looks surprisingly efficient and organized for a government department. All of them, save the deputy director, are contractual staff.

3 Comments (+add yours?)

  1. Dr.K.K.Dixit
    Jan 12, 2013 @ 15:06:45

    political announcement needs strict implementation without any delay of time, Than only female foetecide can stop.

    Reply

  2. Trackback: Rajasthan: Accused of rape, MLA’s husband roaming free #Vaw #Justice « kracktivist
  3. Trackback: Aamir Khan’s show helps set up fast-track court « Forum against Sex Selection (FASS)

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