[ On Monday, a
magistrate in the Saket court declared the trial proceedings "in
camera," which means that only those directly involved in the case could
be in the courtroom. The magistrate also placed a ban on the printing and
publishing of details about the proceedings of the case without permission,
effectively stopping journalists, who have followed this case with intense
scrutiny, from reporting anything except prepared statements from the court
house.]
 |
Sajjad Hussain/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Lawyers protesting at the entrance of the Saket District Court in Delhi
in this Jan. 3 file photo.
|
A Delhi court's ban on reporting the court proceedings against five men
accused in a recent gang rape case should be overturned, in order to help
ensure that an attack like this does not occur again, lawyers challenging the
ban said Monday.
It is not just the accused
who are under scrutiny, said Dharmendra Kumar Mishra, a lawyer who is
challenging the order. The entire "system" is being judged, he said,
including the police who first responded to the crime and the doctors who treated
a 23-year old woman who died in late December, of injuries sustained during the
rape.
"In this case
there was a systemic failure," Mr. Mishra said. "The trial should be
fair and transparent so that all the facts come out."
On Monday, a
magistrate in the Saket court declared the trial proceedings "in
camera," which means that only those directly involved in the case could
be in the courtroom. The magistrate also placed a ban on the printing and
publishing of details about the proceedings of the case without permission,
effectively stopping journalists, who have followed this case with intense
scrutiny, from reporting anything except prepared statements from the court house.
The ban was in
response to overcrowding and chaos in the courtroom on Monday. Tens of lawyers,
many of them female, had gathered in the court to oppose a handful of lawyers
who were offering to represent the accused. Calling the accused men
"beasts," many lawyers argued that those who commit crimes with
brutality don't deserve to be represented, especially by private lawyers.
Scuffles broke out between the two groups, adding to the commotion.
"It is a case
virtually of a crowd occupying every inch of space in the court room even to
the extent of standing next to the sitting space allotted to the reader and
stenographer," magistrate Namrita Aggarwal said. "It has become
completely impossible for the court proceedings to proceed in this case."
Mr. Mishra filed a
"revision petition" before a district judge challenging the order on
Monday afternoon. If successful, lawyers said, future proceedings, at least in
the pre trial stage, will be open.
Specific court
proceedings related to rape are typically kept private in India, including when
the victim appears in court to give her testimony, or when sensitive evidence
is being produced. In this case, the victim, who died from multiple organ
failure two weeks after the incident, will not appear in court. Using a proxy
name, opponents of the ban said, would protect her identity.
The public prosecutor,
Rajeev Mohan, told the court that there was also an apprehension about the
safety of the accused in court, because of the large gathering. At least 25
police, many of them female and from reserve forces, were present in court.
[According to Migration
Policy Institute, CP countries targeted four sectors of intervention, including
controlling undocumented migrant workers, protecting their rights and
supporting their well-being. All 11 countries involved in CP formulated new
laws and policies, and formed dedicated government bodies to govern workers’ migration.
Their efforts, however, were not very much centered on getting international
cooperation to streamline workers’ migration. Only a few countries developed
welfare plans to support migrant workers and their families. ]
By
Lekhanath Pandey
Labour
pact
is an important tool to protect the migrant workers in alien lands‚ which
reduces their risks. The lack of labour pacts with worker-receiving countries
has led to about 11.9 million South Asian migrant workers falling in trouble in
work places and destination countries.
Worker-sending
countries involved in the Colombo Process (CP) have adopted legal and policy
mechanisms to control undocumented migrations. Five nations of the South
Asia—Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka— have been sending
workers abroad, mainly Gulf countries— Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates,
Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman. Such immigration had started in the 1970s when the
unemployed South Asian youths started searching for jobs outside their national
boundaries. The current phase of strong-state action to curb undocumented
migration began in 2005, as per a ministerial decision of CP countries held in
Dhaka, Bangladesh.
According to Migration
Policy Institute, CP countries targeted four sectors of intervention, including
controlling undocumented migrant workers, protecting their rights and
supporting their well-being. All 11 countries involved in CP formulated new
laws and policies, and formed dedicated government bodies to govern workers’ migration.
Their efforts, however, were not very much centered on getting international
cooperation to streamline workers’ migration. Only a few countries developed
welfare plans to support migrant workers and their families.
For instance, Nepal
formulated and enforced the Foreign Employment Act to regulate workers’
migration, and established the Foreign Employment Promotion Board, in 2007, to
explore new job markets and conduct welfare activities. Similarly, the Foreign
Employment Tribunal was established to deal with cases related to the
outsourcing sector. Like Nepal, other South Asian countries also achieved the
first two targets of enforcing the new laws, policies and forming separate
government agencies to deal with the outsourcing business, but failed to meet
the target.
Nepal has signed labour
pacts with five migrant worker receiving countries. Among them Qatar, the UAE
and Bahrain are the major job destinations in the Persian Gulf. Nepal does not
have any labour pact or bilateral agreement with Saudi Arabia, the job market
for over 4,00,000 Nepalis, to protect them. Other countries have labour pacts
with one or the other destination country.
Labour pact is an
important tool to protect the migrant workers in alien lands, which reduces
their risks. The lack of labour pacts with worker-receiving countries has led
to about 11.9 million South Asian migrant workers falling in trouble in work
places and destination countries. The workers have been cheated in wages,
exploited and forced to work for long hours. In the case of housemaids, they
have suffered from domestic violence or even becoming victims of rape by the
employers or their family members. For example, UN Women estimated that about
2,800 Nepali housemaids were rescued from extreme difficult situations, 81
housemaids returned pregnant and 25 with a child in their lap, in the last year
and a half. India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh also have similar stories of
exploitation, but to a lesser extent.
Inefficient protection
measures at home and abroad have forced the governments to restrict workers’
outflow. South Asian countries have discouraged women from household jobs
abroad by implementing the age limit. For women migrant workers, Nepal and
India have fixed the minimum age limit of 30, while Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
have imposed restrictions on women below 25 and 23 years respectively to join
domestic help’s job in the Gulf countries. The state bureaucracies have been
increasingly oriented to control powerless poor people with special attention
on women migration.
The age limit has been
creating problems to Nepal due to its porous boarder with India. Nepali women
below 30 are adopting undocumented migration via India. An estimated 60-70
Nepali women are reaching Gulf-based job market every day using Indian routes,
and are assisted in this by human trafficking networks. The geo-political
situation of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have helped them control such outflow of
women migrant workers. However, Bangladeshi men had used Nepal as a transit
route for the Gulf and Malaysia. The trend has stopped since February after the
Nepal government came down heavily on the illegal nexus operating the business.
Every day, on average, about 200 Nepali men are still using the Indian route to
reach the Gulf job market.
To control such undocumented
migration, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have come up with motivational
measures such as soft loans for intensive job training. Similarly, they have
different social security schemes to help in education, housing, and accidents
among others, for migrant workers. Such schemes have been developed through the
contributions of the government and migrant workers themselves. Sri Lanka has
the most efficient social security measures for migrant workers, among the
South Asian countries.
Based on the experience
of other countries, it is best to govern migration that is to motivate people
to use the formal migration process. Therefore, efforts at control would not
stop undocumented migration, but force people to explore other illegal methods.
It is best for South Asian countries to encourage people to use the formal
migration process by reducing risks.
