Hon'ble Supreme Court directed all the High Courts and subordinate courts to comply with the concept of fair trail - a fundamental right of citizens crafted in Article -21 of COI.
A copy of the judgement of the Munna Pandey Vs State of Bihar, Crl. Appeal no. 1271-1272 of 2018 was circulated to all the High courts and Subordinate courts to comply with the concept of fair trial, a fundamental right of citizen crafted in Article 21 of the constitution of India.
KEY POINTS ARE :
- ” A fair trial is one in which the rules of evidence are honored, the accused has competent counsel, and the judge enforces the proper court room procedures – A trial in which every assumption can be challenged. “
- “Justice has nothing to do with what goes on in the courtroom; Justice is what comes out of a courtroom”
- Truth is the cherished principle and is the guiding star of the Indian Criminal Justice System.
- For Justice to be done, the truth must prevail.
- Truth is the soul of justice.
- The sole idea of the criminal justice system is to see that justice is done.
- Justice is said to be done when no innocent person is punished and the guilty is not allowed to go scot-free.
- For the dispensing of criminal justice, India follows the accusatorial or adversarial system of common law. In this system, the accused is presumed to be innocent.
- Prosecution and defense each put their cases: The judge acts as an impartial umpire and, while acting as a neutral umpire, sees the justice to be done.
- The judge, Prosecutor and the defence lawyer should be honest.
- Equal opportunity should be given to both side to prove their cases.
- The judge, while dispensing of justice has to remain very vigilant, cautious, fair, and impartial and should not give even the slightest of impression that he is biased or prejudiced
- A Judge cannot shut his eyes and be a mute spectator, acting like a robot or a recording machine to just deliver what stands feed by the parties.
- A Judge is duty-bound to find out the truth. he just prevents the truth from becoming a casualty.
- A judge is duty-bound to decide a case according to an objective evaluation and application of the law without the influence of outside factors.
- A Judge cannot remain a mute spectator during the proceeding; he must participate in the proceeding actively.
- The courts are to impart justice in a free, fair, and effective manner.
The Blogger is a Legal Practitioner