CHENNAI, July 1: The Madras High Court has suggested to the Union Government to amend the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Protection of Human Rights Act (PHRA) and the Indian Evidence Act (IEA) to make them more effective in providing relief to the victims of human right violations.

A division bench comprising Justice M S Janarthanam and Justice M Karpagavinayagam gave the direction while passing orders on a writ petition from the Tamil Nadu Pazhangudi Makkal Sangam, represented by its general secretary V P Gunasekaran, praying for a direction to the Tamil Nadu government to investigate into the atrocities against tribals in Thalavadi village near Erode by the members of the Special Task Force (STF) constituted to nab sandalwood smuggler Veerappan.

The bench observed that the amendments could be on the lines of removing the deficiencies in the PHRA by creating a new section regarding offence of torture affecting the dignity of an individual and introducing a new provision to the IEA to minimise the burden of producing proof regarding human right offences, as suggested by the Law Commission.

In its report, the Law Commission had suggested that in the prosecution of a police officer for having caused body injury to a person, if there was evidence to the effect that the injury was caused during the period when the injured was in the custody of the police officer, the court might presume that the injury was caused by the police officer.

Such an amendment was the need of the hour, the bench said.The bench also suggested investing the power of exclusive jurisdiction on the human right courts to award compensation to victims of human right violations, prescribing no limits, ousting the jurisdiction of civil courts and permitting the state government to recover whole or part of the compensation from the officer or officers who were found guilty and to award interim compensation.The bench observed that the PHRA did not contain any provision for payment of compensation to the victim of human rights violations. The Human Rights Courts, exercising power under the CrPC as a criminal court, must be construed to have such power under Sec 357 CrPC to award compensation to the victim. The State should have the right to be indemnified by the wrong doers. Citing a Supreme Court ruling, the bench said that necessary amendments should be made to the PHRA empowering the State to recover the whole or part of the compensation from the officer or officers, who were found guilty. The provision for payment of interim compensation should also be made till such amendments were made, the bench said.p oŽUt›;žTt›ABS. ``During the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls, I was arrested and kept at the Amravati jail. Rawle, who was on hunger strike demanding my release, approached me there and asked me to drop out of the ABS. He also promised to rescue me within a week if I opted to step out of the ABS,'' he alleged.``My intention behind starting the ABS is to create a new leadership to replace the old leaders who are corrupt. I will create a cadre of value-oriented spiritual socio-political workers. I will inculcate the teaching of the sants. I believe in Dasbodh and Shrimad Bhagwad Gita and worship Mahatma Gandhi's ahimsa and Savarkar's kshashtradharma (militancy)''.

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