KOLKATA: Courts do not have a magic wand to provide instant justice, Calcutta HC observed Sunday while hearing a case related to murder and alleged rape of a nine-year-old in Bengal’s Joynagar two days ago that sparked violent protests.
Justice Tirthankar Ghosh made the observations during an emergency Sunday hearing, pointing out that the bigger problem faced by HCs and SC is that people want these institutions to punish those they believed are guilty.Ordering a magistrate-monitored postmortem at a central hospital as the Joynagar deceased’s family had sought, Justice Ghosh stressed that justice is “a step-by-step process”.
“Courts work based on records before it; they have no personal links with the petitioner and defendants,” the judge said. On Saturday, villagers of Mahismari in South 24 Parganas’ Joynagar had clashed with cops and gone on a rampage after the girl’s battered body was found in a ditch near her home. Cops arrested Mostakin Sardar, 19, of the village, on charges of murdering the Class 4 student. The girl had been missing since Friday when she left home for tuition.
Justice Ghosh questioned the police’s contention that it could not add sections of Pocso Act before postmortem report was ready, saying inquest findings were enough for it.
He directed the cops to add Pocso sections and produce the accused before a Pocso court, not regular courts. The cops had moved HC for an urgent hearing to remove legal roadblocks to the postmortem.
Acceding to demands of the victim’s kin, police had moved a lower court, seeking presence of a magistrate during postmortem, but the plea was turned down. The parents also wanted the postmortem in a central facility. The state told the HC that it had no problem.
He then ordered the postmortem at AIIMS Kalyani and asked police to hand over the body by 11.45am Monday.
The judge said if AIIMS had the infrastructure, it could conduct the postmortem within its premises; otherwise, it could do so at the nearby state-run JNM Hospital Kalyani. If the procedure is carried out at the latter hospital, only AIIMs doctors would perform it, the judge directed. HC also asked ACJM of Baruipur, South 24 Parganas, to “monitor” the autopsy.
(With inputs from Tamaghna Banerjee in Kolkata)