The Supreme Court on Tuesday imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 each against the Odisha, Telangana, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Uttar Pradesh Governments for not filing a response on the issue of establishing human rights courts.
The apex court also slapped a fine of Rs 1 lakh each against Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, observing that these States have neither filed responses nor their lawyers were present during the hearing relating to the issues on setting up of human rights courts.
A Bench comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and BR Gavai asked all these States to file their responses within four weeks. Notably, on January 4, 2018, the court had directed all the States to come up with their responses relating to establishment of human rights courts as required under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, and appoint Special Public Prosecutors for the purpose.