Chief Justice of India HL Dattu
The Chief Justice of India today shared with NDTV his reason for setting up an unprecedented special bench to hear cases related to social issues. "A case on missing children hurt me the most. I felt the need for a bench to hear such cases," said Justice HL Dattu.
From next week, the two-judge "Social Justice Bench" will meet every Friday afternoon to handle petitions on issues linked to malnutrition among children, women's safety, night shelters for the homeless and welfare schemes for poor families.
"This is a first step and let us start. People of this country should feel we are with them and this court gives time to them," Justice Dattu said.
The idea, he said, struck him when he was hearing a petition filed by Nobel winner Kailash Satyarthi on missing children across the country.
"I have a daughter and son. If my children go missing what will I feel? I am trying to do my best," he said, admitting that while hearing the case, he felt somewhat helpless.
"I don't have time to call the Chief Secretary, DGP of each state and talk to them on the missing children issue. I don't have time to take up these matters on a regular basis because of paucity of time," he said.
The two judges who will handle these cases every Friday are Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice UU Lalit.
Around 200 cases related to the issue of social justice are currently pending in the Supreme Court. The court registry says that 65 cases will be taken up in the first two weeks.