Cannot jettison basic liberties in the name of organised crime

Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court Mohit Shah on Friday called for striking a balance between civil liberties and human rights on one hand and effective disposal of criminal cases on the other.

In his 45-minute inaugural address at an all India criminology conference in the city,he spoke on several issues but made a special mention of international crime syndicates,especially those pertaining to narcotics and human trafficking. He stated that such criminal activities pose a special challenge as they often cross national borders and involve different jurisdictions.

He said,While there is a need to ensure persons guilty of taking part in organized crime are brought to book,at the same time,we cannot jettison basic liberties in the name of either organized crime or terrorism.

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Calling for a humanistic approach to tackle cases of trafficking of women and children,he made special note of a public interest litigation filed in the Bombay High Court raising the issue of such trafficking from Nepal and Bangladesh. The PIL has been filed by NGO,India Centre for Human Rights and Law.

Taking up the issue of the need to undertake positive reforms in the criminal justice system,Justice Shah said,There is an urgent need to discuss all these issues both at the macro and micro levels.

The three-day conference is being organized jointly by the Indian Society of Criminology and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). A number of experts in the field,including senior IPS officers,will take part in the event. Prominent among them are Arvind Inamdar,retired Director General of the Maharashtra police and Dr P M Nair,the Additional Director General of Police (Operations) CRPF,Delhi.

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