Protection of Human Rights Act, trial, jurisdiction to try, commit, judgments, Section 193 and 209 of CrPC, without accused being committed to special Court

1. HUMAN RIGHTS
ACT
:Prepared by:
H. S. MULIA
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2. Disclaimer
Views expressed in
this document are
for information and
academic purpose
only.
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3. Question:- whether the
Court of Session, which is
specified as the Special
Court under the protection
of Human Rights Act, 1993
(u/s 30 of the Act) can take
cognizance of the offence as
a Court of original
jurisdiction or not?
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4. Answer:- Above referred
issue is no longer res integra
and stands answered by the
Hon'ble Division Bench of
Bombay High Court in case
of Rasiklal M. Gangani Vs.
Government of Goa,
reported in 2004(2) GOA LR
page no.16.
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5. Since the Human Rights Act
has not specified any special
provision relating to the
cognizance and the trial of the
offence, the provisions
contained under Section 4 of
Code of Criminal Procedure
would govern the trial of cases
before the Human Rights
Court. 5

6. As there is no provision in the
Human Rights Act to hold that the
Special Judge designated under
the Human Rights Act, is a Court
of original jurisdiction, the Human
Rights Court can only take
cognizance of the complaints
which are committed to it for trial
by the Magistrate as per Section
209 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure.
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7. Reference is required to be made
to the ratios laid down by the
Hon'ble Andhra Pradesh High
Court in case of A. Goverdhan
Reddy v. Superintendent of Police,
reported in 1998 Cri LJ 561 and
Rajesh Das Pranabandhu Das, v/s
Tamilnadu State Human Rights
Commission, reported in 2010 (0)
Supreme (Mad) 3735.
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8. Thank
You
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