New Delhi, Feb 8 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has rejected a plea to make the issuance of a notice to the complainant or the victim mandatory at the pre-trial stage in criminal proceedings in a case.

Dealing with the public interest litigation, a bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan said such a condition would result in avoidable and undesirable delays in trials and is against the objective of expeditious trials, thus making the "treatment worse than the disease".

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The petitioner, a practising lawyer, said the Supreme Court has recognised that the victim has a right to be heard and participate in criminal proceedings and thus, a direction should be issued to all trial courts to ensure that notice is issued to the victim, informing that the charge-sheet has been filed.

"There is no mandate in the statute obliging the criminal court to issue notice to the complainant/victim at pre-trial stage. We are unable to accept the suggestion of the petitioner that it should be made mandatory for the criminal court to issue a notice to the complainant/victim at every stage of the pre-trial and trial in criminal proceedings," the bench also comprising Justice Manmeet PS Arora said in a recent order.

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"In the opinion of this court, such a direction is likely to result in avoidable and undesirable delays in trials and is likely to work against the objective of expeditious trials. The suggestion of the petitioner if accepted would act as a treatment worse than the disease," it concluded.

The court said that as per the apex court's decision, the opportunity of a fair and effective hearing has to be granted to the victims who come forward to participate during cognizance and pre-trial, and there are sufficient rights given to them to effectively participate in pre-trial and trial proceedings if he or she so elects.

In the PIL, petitioner Vivek Kumar Gaurav also sought directions to supply a copy of the chargesheet, police report or the final report to the complainant or the victim free of cost.

In view of the Delhi High Court Rules and the directions issued by the Centre in cases of sexual offences against women and children, the court stated there is an adequate statutory mechanism in existence for a victim or complainant to obtain copies or certified copies and no further direction in this regard was merited.

"Rules make it clear that a party to a criminal case is entitled to obtain copies of the record of the case upon filing of an application. A party desirous of obtaining a free copy can also do so under Rule 5 by making an application in this regard," it recorded.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)