Lawyers demand more women courts and judges

NEW DELHI - A group of lawyers has sent a representation to the chief justice of Delhi High Court seeking more women courts as well as judges to deal with cases of marital discord.

The representation, signed by about 150 lawyers led by Rubinder Pal Ghumman, said there were inadequate number of courts and judges to deal with the more than 3,500 pending matters and complaints of litigants under various family laws.

According to the lawyers, a majority of women with their small children approach mahila (women) courts seeking quick relief for shelter and financial assistance but as a large number of cases have been pending, the judges are unable to dispose of the cases at a faster pace.

“According to the Domestic Violence Act, a harassed woman with children should get relief within a stipulated period of 60 days but the victims get no remedy for months and their cases stretch for years due to inadequate number of courts and judicial officers,” the lawyers said and pleaded to the chief justice for implementation of the act with true spirit.

“There are inadequate number of mahila courts, shortage of judicial officers and furthermore existing courts are burdened with heavy workload and are usually delegated with additional charge of other courts.”

“It is not humanly possible for a single judge to hear more than 70-80 cases a day, many of which require and warrant urgent relief… The judges who despite their best efforts towards delivering substantial justice, are at times not able to give adequate time in hearing all the cases listed for the day due to paucity of time and heavy workload,” the lawyers said in the representation.

There are now nine mahila courts to handle matrimonial cases and also the cases under Domestic Violence Act.