Courts aren’t only option for justice, says Supreme Court judge

Justice Madan B Lokur of the Supreme Court said here on Saturday that courts are not necessarily the only option to seek justice and even if you come to the court, you have the option of going in for other alternatives such as mediation.

Talking to Hindustan Times on the sidelines of a Global Pound Conference, Justice Lokur said the idea of mediation is that you understand the point of view of the other side and then arrive at a settlement of the dispute. Admitting that poor people are finding it difficult to seek justice, he said, “Access to justice is everybody’s concern. But, that’s where the National Legal Services Authority (NLSA) and the state legal service authorities are making people aware of their rights.”

He said, unfortunately, people feel arbitration and mediation are only for the big firms and the rich, but that’s not the case. “They are for big companies and for small as well,” he said, adding that “mediation is far more important in the Indian context.”

Justice Lokur, who also heads the Juvenile Justice Committee, said crimes against children are far more than the crimes committed by them.

He said the positive thing is that people are beginning to talk about crimes against children, which wasn’t the case earlier. The crimes against children include child marriage, sexual exploitation and child labour, he added. It’s time kids are also treated as human beings and not just as numbers, he added.