SC judges to lower judiciary: Don’t be judgmental

Asking lower court judges to take a more humane approach towards litigants, Supreme and High Court Judges on Sunday asked the subordinate judges to handle their stress level. Lower court judges from Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh attended the concluding day of the three day North Zone Regional Judicial conference on "Administration of Criminal Justice: Issues and Challenges".

Speaking on the occasion, Supreme Court judge Justice B S Chauhan asked judges to be firm about their decisions. However, he urged the judges not to be judgmental. The Apex Court judge asked the judges to skillfully handle chronic litigants. Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri shared his experiences with the judges to enlighten them on the ways to handle a case. Also present was Justice Surya Kant on the occasion.

Prof K N Chandrasekharan Pillai, Director, National Judicial Academy addressed the stress-related queries. Another important issue discussed was plea bargain, a concept which is popular, mainly in the Western countries.

The plea bargain concept is pre-trial negotiations between accused and the prosecution, during which the accused agrees to plead guilty in exchange for certain concessions by the prosecution. In India, plea bargain is applicable for the offences, which have a punishment of upto seven years. This is however not applicable on socio economic offenses or where offense has been committed against a woman or a minor below 14 years of age.

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