The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is a regional non-governmental organisation based in Hong Kong. I hope you will recall several of our earlier letters addressed to your office requesting urgent actions on cases of human rights violation reported from West Bengal.
On June 13, 2007 the AHRC was informed about the arrest and detention of a human rights activist on the previous day in Baharampur. We were informed that Mr. Gopen SHARMA, a human rights activist working with a local human rights group MASUM, with its office in Howrah, was ordered to be arrested by the presiding officer of the 2nd Fast Track Court, Baharampur. An urgent appeal by the AHRC requesting your urgent attention to the matter has been sent to you by the AHRCs Urgent Appeals Programme today.
In this connection a staff of the AHRC contacted the High Court Registrars office in the number + 91 33 221 393 06. The person who answered the call identified himself as the Registrar of the court. The call was made to obtain the official fax number of the Calcutta High Court to verify to which number the fax concerning Mr. Sharmas case should be send. The Registrar however refused to give the fax number. When the AHRCs staff requested for the reason why the fax number could not be provided, the Registrar raised his voice over the telephone and shouted that he cannot give the fax number of the court without the prior permission from your office. The Registrar also refused to reveal his name.
The AHRCs staff further tried to reason with the Registrar explaining to him the difficulty in understanding why important information concerning the court, which should be available on the public domain, cannot be provided by the Registrars office. The Registrar at this point shouted at our staff asking what right a stranger has to talk to him and that he need not be educated about the formalities of the court and the law and hung up the telephone.
The AHRC while appreciating the efforts and initiatives taken by the Indian judiciary to address the publics concerns however fails to understand the attitude of a senior judge of the lower judiciary, now serving as the in accommodating requests for information.
The official fax number the Calcutta High Court which the Registrar refused to provide is available in the telephone directory printed and circulated by the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited.
The AHRC is aware that the Registrar of the High Court has the following duties:
a) To be the custodian of court records
b) To prepare lists of cases pending and disposed by the court
c) To accept and forward to the appropriate bench appeals, complaints, writs and other matters addressed to the court
d) To liaise with the lawyers and other litigants who seek the service of the court
In the light of the above duties of the Registrar and in the context of the AHRCs own experience we wish to express the following concerns:
1. Does the require express permission from your office to provide the fax number of the court to the public?
2. Does the public have a right to know the official fax number of the court?
3. If the official fax number of the Calcutta High Court is also for the ordinary public to communicate to the court why did the Registrar refuse to disclose this number?
4. The AHRC understands that the Registrar of the High Court is a judge from the lower judiciary and his official duty also involves functioning as a communication link between the higher judiciary and the ordinary people. Learning from the AHRCs experience, from now on, how should any person who wishes to communicate to the Calcutta High Court approach the court?
5. Since there is no information provided at the website of the High Court, if there is a complaint regarding the Registrar or any other judge in your jurisdiction how can such a complaint be send to the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court for the judges information and appropriate action.
Yours sincerely,
Basil Fernando
Executive Director
Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong
CC:
1. Justice Mr. Balakrishnan
Chief Justice of India
Through the Office of the Registrar General
Supreme Court of India
1 Tilak Marg, New Delhi
INDIA
Fax: 91 11 23383792
Email: supremecourt@nic.in
2. Ms Hina Jilani
UN Special representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders
C/0 OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006
3. Mr. Leandro Despouy
Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers
Room: 3-060
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR INDEPENDENCE JUDGES & LAWYERS)
