ENDER SENSITIZATION OF JUDICIAL OFFICERS

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About 835 judicial officers all over the country have received training in gender sensitization under the Indo-British Training Project on Gender and Law which was launched by the then Chief Justice of India, Shri Justice A.S. Anand on September 5, 2001. These judicial officers were trained on how to deal with cases concerning gender laws. They were asked to disseminate the experience gained by them among other judicial officers of their States. Besides, resource pack containing message recorded on September 25, 2001 of the then Chief Justice of India, suggesting effective practice and procedures to be followed by the judicial officers during the trial of rape or other sexual abuse cases, was widely circulated and discussed among judicial officers and participants in the judicial colloquia. The hallmark of the gender sensitization training to judicial officers was to ensure that victims of rapes and other such indignities were not subjected to further indignities at the trial stage.

So far, 17 Women Courts have been constituted including 3 such courts in Andhra Pradesh, 4 in Karnataka, 4 in Rajasthan and 6 in the National Capital Territory of Delhi to try women related criminal cases.

Since September , 2001, 15 judicial colloquia on gender and law were organised by the National Judicial Academy at 13 different places of the nation covering almost every part of the country and the all High Courts. These colloquia were inaugurated by the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court and its valedictory address and other sessions were chaired by the senior-most judges of the respective High Courts.