STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: The State Judicial Academy under the instructions of Chief Patron, State Judicial Academy and Chief Justice M.M Kumar, High Court of J and K and Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar, Chairman Committee, State Judicial Academy and Justice Hasnain Masoodi, Member Committee, State Judicial Academy commenced two days refresher course on criminal and civil laws.
The first day of the refresher course was spread over four sessions comprising themes remand, bail, Section 173 CrPC with special emphasis on Sub-section (8) and Charge, protection of women from Domestic Violence Act, 2010, cognisance under Sections 190 and 200 CrPC and provisions of Sections 201 to 205, 249 and 540 CrPC and recording of evidence in criminal cases and Sections 145 and 165 of Evidence Act and examination of accused under Sections 242 and 342 CrPC.
In the opening session, Harbans Lal, District and Sessions Judge (retired) deliberated upon the various practical difficulties being faced by the magistrates while passing orders with regard to remand and bail. The resource person also dealt with the various situations which may arise on presentation of police reports both in the form of Challan as well as closure reports.
The second session was conducted by Prof (Dr) Virender Kumar, founding Director, Chandigarh Judicial Academy, Professor and Chairman, Department of Law, Punjab University, Chandigarh and UGC Emeritus Fellow in Law. He emphasised the importance of the Domestic Violence Act especially in the backdrop of Indian culture. He also referred to the statistics of WHO published in newspapers wherein 38 per cent of females are being eliminated by their partners and it is this kind of situation which poses a challenge for the Magistracy to strictly adhere and implement the provisions of the Act keeping in mind the objective to be achieved by the same.
Third and fourth sessions were conducted by Justice Bansi Lal Bhat, Judge, High Court of Jammu and Kashmir. He apprised the Magistrates about their powers and functions as supervisory officers over police investigations. He emphasised the importance of taking cognisance and distinguished the scope of applications of provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure viz-a-viz the police agencies.
In his address, the resource person impressed upon various provisions available to the trial court in order to do complete justice between the parties. He stressed upon the provisions governing the examination of accused both at the inception of the trial and the conclusion of the trial. He reminded the magistrates that their job is not only to conduct the trial but also to protect the rights of the accused as guaranteed to him under the Constitution and the examination of the accused being part of such guarantee.
Earlier, Pawan Dev Kotwal, Director, State Judicial Academy introduced the objectives of two days refresher course and gave broader outlines of the programme.