Srinagar, Dec 10: On International Human Rights Day, former judge of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Justice (Retd) Bashir Ahmad Kirmani, today said a judge while delivering the judgment should always give precedence to collective interests over individual.
 Addressing lawyers at a seminar “Role of Judiciary in Protecting Human Rights” at Saddar court here, Kirmani said, “Judiciary has a role in maintenance, observance and implementation of human rights. There have been incidents where judges overplayed the administrative interests against human rights of an individual. But in a judgment for the common good of society individual interests have to be surrendered. Collective interests shall have precedence over individual interests.”
 However, he was all praise for the High Court Srinagar. He said, “HC is the only court in the entire subcontinent which has decided more than 18000 habeas corpus petitions. Thousands of detention cases have been decided in the sub-ordinate courts.”
 Referring to the Bhopal gas tragedy, Kirmani said he had a feeling that human rights were “intermingled with politics, personal beliefs and perspectives, which is not a positive sign.” “When we mix human rights with politics we lose essence of justice,” he said.
 Kirmani said, “J&K is a legally disturbed area where human rights violations have great scope as the power has been given to the forces. But there should be a mechanism that this power should not be misused.”
 Kirmani said once anyone came to wield power in the establishment, he violated the rights of those he had to deal with, ultimately causing discontent in the society.
 “Law and order is violated by those who are meant to enforce it. Whosoever comes to wield power violates the rights of his subordinates,” he said.
 He said the protection of human rights - social, economic and political– was imperative. “We should stop playing blame games to conceal the violations done by us,” he said, adding one section of the society violated the rights of another, which had generated discontent among the masses. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
 He said people had abdicated everything, including politics, administration and society to the law enforcing authorities and were least bothered to involve themselves to safeguard their rights.
 He said the government and non-governmental organizations could play a proactive role in safeguarding human rights. “Do unto others as you would wish others to do unto you,” Kirmani said.
 Rights activist, Parvez Imroz accused the government of detaining people, particularly small children under PSA on “malafide” grounds.
 Bar Association members sought the intervention of Amnesty International in safeguarding the rights of Kashmiris. They resolved that the detainees arrested during recent unrest be released forthwith including Bar president, Mian Abdul Qayoom and general secretary, Ghulam Nabi Shaheen together with advocate Muhammad Shafi Reshi.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 10 Dec 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 10 Dec 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 11 Dec 2010 00:00:00 IST