Skip to main content

Every Judge Shall Inform Convict About His Right To Appeal And To Avail Legal Assistance

The Calcutta High Court while hearing MALATI SARDAR VS STATE OF WEST BENGAL recently expressed concern over the “dismal failure in the matter of extending effective legal aid/assistance to convicts”, and made it mandatory for Judges across the State to inform convicts of their right to file an appeal and legal aid while disposing of a case.

The guidelines were issued by Justice Joymalya Bagchi in an Appeal filed by one Ms. Malati Sardar whose appeal took 6 years to reach the Court due to non-appointment of a lawyer on her behalf.

It then issued the following directions:

1. Every Judge while pronouncing a judgment of conviction and sentence shall inform the convict in a language which is understandable to him, his right to prefer appeal against such judgment including his right to avail of legal aid in that regard from the appropriate legal services authority under the Act of 1987. In the event, the appellant expresses his desire to prefer appeal with legal aid, the Judge shall send a free copy of the judgment to the Secretary of the concerned legal services authority attached to the appellate Court for necessary steps in the matter.

2. The aforesaid fact shall be endorsed at the foot of every judgment stating clearly that the right to prefer appeal with legal aid has been duly communicated to the understanding of the convict. Response thereto of the convict shall also be indicated in the body of the judgment.

3. Necessary amendments may be made to Chapter X of the Calcutta High Court Criminal (Subordinate Courts) Rules, 1985 so that such duty is imposed on the trial Judge at the time of delivery of judgment.

4. In addition thereto, Superintendent of the Correctional Home where the convict is received upon conviction shall also communicate to him such right and record his willingness, if any, to prefer appeal with legal aid in the records of the Correctional Home. In the event, the convict desires to prefer appeal with legal aid, the Superintendent of the concerned Correctional Home shall forth remit necessary papers not only to the registry of the appellate Court but also to the Secretary of the concerned legal services authority attached to the said Court for necessary steps in the matter.

5. Secretary of the concerned legal services authority attached to the appellate Court on receipt of the papers from the trial Judge or the Correctional Home authorities, as the case may be, shall immediately but not later than seven days appoint a lawyer from its panel, who has sufficient knowledge and expertise to deal with such cases, to prefer and prosecute the appeal on behalf of the appellant.

6. The lawyer so appointed shall, if necessary, interview the convict in the correctional home, file necessary pleadings in Court and prosecute the appeal in accordance with law. He shall submit quarterly reports to the Secretary of the concerned legal services authority as to steps taken by him and the status of the appeal till its disposal.

7. Registrar General of the High Court is directed to circulate a copy of this order to every judicial officer in the State of West Bengal to ensure that the aforesaid directions are duly complied with. He shall also initiate the procedure for amendment of the Criminal Rules and Orders, as proposed in the direction no (c), by the High Court in accordance with law.

8. Secretary, State Legal Services Authority shall circulate a copy of this order to all the Secretaries of the District and Sub-divisional Legal Services Authorities and give wide publicity to these directions amongst the general public for prompt and effective implementation of such directions.

9. Department is directed to communicate this order to the Director General of Correctional Services, West Bengal, who shall communicate this order to the  Superintendents of all the Correctional Homes in the State of West Bengal for prompt and effective implementation of the directions.”

Article referred: http://www.livelaw.in/every-judge-shall-inform-convict-right-to-appeal-avail-legal-assistance-calcutta-hc-issues-guidelines-read-judgment/

Comments

Most viewed this month

Partition proceedings are vitiated even if single co-sharer is not made party or is not served in accordance with law

Cause Title :  Bhagwant Singh vs  Financial Commissioner (Appeals) Punjab, Chandigarh,  CWP-2132-2018 (O&M), High Court Of Punjab & Haryana At Chandigarh Date of Judgment/Order : 31.08.2022 Corum : Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sudhir Mittal Background A large parcel of land was owned by the Nagar Panchayat. Thereafter, some of the co-sharers sold their shares to third parties including the petitioners herein. On 22.11.1995, respondents No.3 to 5 filed an application for partition of the land. The petitioners were not impleaded as parties.  On completion of proceedings, sanad was issued on 28.08.1996. Vide two separate sale deeds dated 28.05.2008 respondents No.3 and 5 sold some portion in favour of respondent No.6 and 7. These respondents sought implementation of the sanad resulting in issuance of warrants of possession dated 05.06.2008. Allegedly, it was then that the petitioners realized that joint land had been partitioned and that proceedings h...

Power of Attorney holder can also file cheque bounce cases: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has held that a criminal complaint in a cheque bounce case can be filed and pursued by a person who holds a power of attorney (PoA) on behalf of the complainant. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam gave the "authoritative" pronouncement on the issue, referred to it by a division bench in view of conflicting judgements of some high courts and the apex court. "We are of the view that the power of attorney holder may be allowed to file, appear and depose for the purpose of issue of process for the offence punishable under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act (which deals with cheque bounce cases)," the bench, also comprising justices Ranjana Prakash Desai and Ranjan Gogoi, said. The bench, in its judgement, said, "...we clarify the position and answer the questions in the following manner: "Filing of complaint petition under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act through PoA holder is perfectly legal...

Christian who reconverts as Hindu SC will get quota benefits

Amid the controversy over “ghar wapsi”, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a person who “reconverts” from Christianity to Hinduism shall be entitled to reservation benefits if his forefathers belonged to a Scheduled Caste and the community accepts him after “reconversion”. Citing articles by B R Ambedkar and James Massey, and reports by Mandal Commission and Chinappa Commission, the court said: “There has been detailed study to indicate the Scheduled Caste persons belonging to Hindu religion, who had embraced Christianity with some kind of hope or aspiration, have remained socially, educationally and economically backward.” The bench of Justices Dipak Misra and V Gopala Gowda held that a person shall not be deprived of reservation benefits if he decides to “reconvert” to Hinduism and adopts the caste that his forefathers originally belonged to just because he was born to Christian parents or has a Christian spouse. Expanding the scope of a previous Constitution benc...