Author: M J Antony
Publisher: Indian Social Institute
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 192
ISBN/UPC (if available): 81-87218-92-4
Description
The awareness of human rights and the means to enforce them is increasing rapidly among the people, going by the number of petitions filed in the courts and before the human rights commissions. A decade ago, the National Human Rights Commission received only some 500 petitions a year. However, the number of complaints has been increasing at a steady and fast pace over the year. After 2000, it has gone below 70,000 annually. The complaints were mostly about police excesses, atrocities against the lower castes, communal violence, bonded labor, dowry deaths, rapes and sexual harassment.
The High courts and Supreme court deliver more than 300 judgments every year dealing with violations of human rights. Unlike the orders passed by the human rights commissions, the judgments passed by the courts have the force of law, and the executive are constitutionally bound to enforce them.
The most prominent legal development of 2004 was undoubtedly the orders passed by the Supreme Court in the Gujarat cases.
This book contains summaries of judgments written in simple language. The facts are narrated in the beginning, so that the legal point in the judgment could be understood better. Then the important points of the judgments are given. Later, some significant passages from the judgments are cited. References to the complete judgments arte given in the text as well as in the alphabetical list at the end of the book.