Justice not privilege of few but right of every citizen: CJI Gavai
New Delhi (PTI): Justice is not a privilege of the few but a right of every citizen, Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai said on Saturday, while emphasising that it is the duty of judges and lawyers to ensure that the light of justice reaches even the last person standing at the margins of society.
Addressing the inaugural function of a national conference on strengthening legal aid delivery mechanisms at the Supreme Court premises, Gavai said the true reward of the legal services movement does not lie in statistics or annual reports, but in the quiet gratitude and renewed faith of citizens who once felt invisible.
"Justice is not a privilege of the few but a right of every citizen, and that our role, as judges, lawyers, and officers of the court, is to ensure that the light of justice reaches even the last person standing at the margins of society," Gavai said.
Gavai said the real measure of success is not in numbers but in the trust of the common person, in the belief that someone, somewhere, is willing to stand by them. "And that is why our work must always be guided by the spirit that we are changing lives," he added.
"Even your presence for a single day, your visit to a village or a jail, your conversation with a person in distress, can be life-changing for someone who has never had anyone come for them before," he said.
At the event organised by NALSA (National Legal Services Authority) to mark its 30th year, the CJI said that legal aid must not be envisioned as a reactive system, but as a living movement.
"We must not wait for distress to knock on our doors. Instead, we must continuously reflect on how society is changing in the new challenges, the new forms of exclusion, and the emerging needs of the people we serve.
"The strength of a just society lies in our ability to foresee where injustice may arise, and to reach there before it does," he said.
Gavai said as India celebrates the 75th year of its Constitution, the legal aid movement must keep carrying forward the vision embedded in the Preamble: the assurance of justice, social, economic, and political.
"The Constitution's promise will be truly fulfilled only when every person, regardless of caste, gender, language, or circumstances, feels that the system of justice belongs to them," he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief guest at the event, which was also attended by Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gavai's successor Surya Kant, as well as other judges from the Supreme Court and high courts.
Justice Vikram Nath delivered a vote of thanks and said the prime minister's presence has given renewed direction and energy to the collective endeavour to make access to justice efficient, inclusive, and technology-driven.
NALSA was constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, to provide free legal services to the weaker sections of society and to organise Lok Adalats for amicable settlement of disputes.
The CJI acts as its patron-in-chief, and the next senior-most Supreme Court judge is the Executive Chairman.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
