Seminar on "Human Rights for Social Justice - The Process of Case Filing and Simplification of Judicial Systems"

Organised by the Legal Aid and Consultancy Centre (LACC)

14 December 2003, Kathmandu

The tardy process of making judicial decision owing to procedural complications has discouraged many victims especially women, poor and marginalized population in filing their cases in the court or the concerned authority of the government.

The problems have further intensified despite the efforts of the Supreme Court and Nepal Bar Association. Having realised the growing intensity of the problems, the Legal aid and Consultancy Centre (LACC) recently organised an interaction programme with the objective of identifying the causes that often makes judicial process quite tedious and expensive. The LACC- an NGO of women legal practioners, which has been providing legal support to the women and children from backward community, involved officials from various government organisations at the interaction programme and asked how procedurals problems could be resolved.

The seminar was organized with the aim of minimising misunderstanding between plaintiffs, section in-charge, legal-practioners and judicial bodies. The participants pointed out the need for reforms in the judicial fronts. Gravity of the problems should be understood. Apart from this, the role of section in-charge should be fair and unbiased.

The focus of the seminar was to dig out the root causes of problems that concerned authorities had been facing since long. The other objective of LACC in organising the seminar was to help simply the judicial processes, formulate inputs for legislative reforms and find ways and means for speedy justice for the women, poor and powerless.

Proceedings

The judicial decisions can be more prompt amid a mutual understanding between the bar and bench observed legal practioners, registrars of the Appellate Court, Patan, and Kathamndu district court at the seminar. The procedural difficulties should be ironed out to make judicial decisions more effective, fair and just. Good laws alone are not sufficient, the attitude of the people while implementing the laws plays a vital role, they said.

Expressing their views at a programme on Human Rights for Social Justice - The process of Case Filing and Simplification of Judicial System, officials from various government offices including the Office of Land Reform, The Women Cell of Nepal Police, women activists and journalists stressed the need for a common approach . Lack of awareness, delay in the judicial decision making process and procedural complications discourage people in seeking justice from the judicial bodies, the participants said. Speaking about the procedural complications participants emphasized the need for developing a mechanism so that a plaintiff does not have to become a victim of a section -in-charge. Women legal practioners also blamed section- in-charge for creating complications and making processes lengthy. However, some government officials and section in charge of Kathamndu District Court said that the lawyers or the plaintiffs should be aware about the process of case filing. There are certain rules, which have to be fulfilled, they said.

Prof. Shanta Thapaliya, the chairperson of the LACC said that the people involved in the judicial system should be aware about the victims' problems especially relating to property rights for women, divorce, separation in the family, the cases of children and the poor. Citing the poor economic situation of some women and children, she said there were many women and children in the country who were deprived of their basic rights due to the existing legal complications. In fact, many victims are compelled to suppress their voices and bearing the brunt of injustice due legal and administrative hassles. The webs of legal formalities are so complicated that one cannot get justice in time, she said.

While speaking at the programme, Prof. Thapaliya stressed the need for generating awareness about the legal system and that those who are deprived of their rights should be provided with justice in time. Justice delayed is justice denied, she said. Chairing the first session of the seminar, Prof. Thapaliya described as how women and children from deprived community are suffering. The state itself is not aware about the basic rights of such people. If a victim cannot go to the court, the real justice is not possible, she said. Prof. Thapaliya also pointed out the need for simplifying the legal process.

Speaking at the function, Ms. Chattra Kumari Gurung, vice chairperson of the LACC said that the seminar would help develop understanding between the people at various levels so that weaker sections of society should not be denied of the access to legal resources. "It is just a beginning. We need to develop an atmosphere of trust to thrash out solutions," she said. She also mentioned that the 11th amendment of the Civil Code had provided lots of ground for protecting rights of people but she said that the situation of women and children particularly in the backward communities were pathetic. We have tried to bring all the concerned people in the judiciary and legal sector so that some degree of understanding could be developed in order to tackle the problem, she said.

Lawyer Basanti Shrestha described the problems being faced by the plaintiffs and lawyers. On the one hand, our system is not transparent. It is too vague. On the other hand, people in the judicial sector (court) are not cooperative. Sections -in-charge- (Phantwala) in most of the cases try to manipulate the case and discourage people. The situation becomes really pathetic, when a section-in-charge- starts grueling people unnecessarily. This also happens in the semi-judicial bodies like Police Office, Office of the Chief District Officer and other local bodies.

Victims are compelled to bear the torture and they do not get justice on time. Besides, connivance between offender and the officials intensify the problems. She also explained various complications being faced by lawyers who are fighting the case on behalf of the minors. Prof. Shanta Thapaliya stressed the need for procedural delays and the problems of connivance. Therefore, I said that the attitude of the people always play a vital role in smoothening the legal process in a fair manner. Presenting a paper on the "Problems of Case Filing and Ways for Solutions" Krishna Kamal Adhikary, registrar of the Kathmandu District Court stressed the need for developing mutual understanding between the legal practioners, officials and judicial bodies. However, he said that the lawyers should also be cautious about process and judicial system. One should be aware about the process, he said. Registrar of the Appellate Court, Patan, Til Prasad Shrestha, while presenting his paper on "Case Management' hinted at the possibility of reforms in judicial system in near future. Shrestha also pointed out the need for developing competency to address new cases. Shrestha further said that both the legal practioners and the concerned people should be familiar with the case. The prime aim of the judicial bodies is to provide justice to the victims as soon as possible. However, various problems occur while deciding the case, he said. Participants argued that there should be provision for the legal aid to the poor. Prakash Rawal from the Office of the Land Reform said that the process of filing a case has not been taken seriously. Even lawyers are not cautious about the process. He also pointed out the need to simply the process. Krishna Kamal Adhikary while responding to a query of Rawal said that each official should be aware about the rules and regulations. This proper education about the laws of the land is essential.

Puskar Thapa, a journalist said that the attitude of the people plays a vital role in judicial decision. However, he criticized the judicial bodies for manipulating cases. Harka Bahadur Rawal , chief of the Women Cell of the Nepal Police said that an atmosphere should be created for a person to file a case. Sabita Bhandari, a lawyer spoke as how section -in charge - harasses a lawyer. An official from Bhaktapur District Court also stressed the need for simplifying the case filing process.

Later, participants were divided in three different groups to submit their views and recommendations. According to the LACC the resolution of the discussion programme would be submitted to the concerned authorities for necessary reforms in the system. During the seminar participants also suggested the organiser to hold such programme outside the Kathmandu valley. More than 60 people from different organizations had participated in the seminar.