In remote Maharashtra corner, justice delivery comes a step closer

It is particularly welcome news for 357 victims of crimes from areas around Aheri, whose cases are pending trial and have now been transferred to the new court. As many as 206 civil cases involving people from the area have also been transferred to this court, according to officials.

R N Bawankar has taken charge as the first Additional Sessions Judge, and 23 court staff have been moved here from the court in Gadchiroli city. However, hearings are yet to begin as the public prosecutor is yet to take charge, sources say.

According to lawyers, police personnel and litigants, several bus services from south Gadchiroli have been cancelled over the past year due to bad roads, forcing people who need to go to court to bear the expense of taxis apart from an overnight stay.

Take, for instance, 20-odd villagers from Nandigaon, a remote tribal village in Sironcha taluka, who have been travelling to the Gadchiroli sessions court for more than two years just to attend hearings, and claim to have spent over Rs 2 lakh on commuting alone. “The land belongs to a school in their village and a strongman is trying to usurp it. So the villagers came together for the sake of their children’s future and lodged a civil case in 2020,” said their lawyer Feroze Khan.

One of the litigants, Namdeo Ramaya Gampala, 35, told The Indian Express, “We have been to the court 10 times so far. But since last year, fewer people have been going as the expenses were too much. Now, thanks to the Aheri sessions court, we feel determined to keep fighting the case.”

He said they would leave at 6 am to reach in time, spend the day in court, and return late at night or the next day. “If the vehicle broke down or it was raining, we would spend nights at a bus stop in Gadchiroli,” said Gampala.

B M Atram, a lawyer from Bhamragad, elaborated on the challenges: “In POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) cases, there are daily hearings, so witnesses and victims from Bhamragad would have to stay over for a day in Gadchiroli (city) and shell out extra.” The Aheri court is just 70 km from Bhamragad.

Rajesh Gawale, assistant inspector in-charge of Asaralli police station, said, “Sometimes, victims and witnesses would request us to make travel arrangements for them as they don’t have the money.”

For those from Asaralli, in south Gadchiroli’s Sironcha taluka, the Aheri court means the distance to get to a sessions court is reduced by more than 70 km. “On an average, we travelled to the sessions court in Gadchiroli 24 times in a year. So more than a month every year would go in just producing the accused before court. Now, we can finish our trip in a day,” Gawale said.

Advocate Satish Jainwar, who has been practising at the sessions court in Gadchiroli for the last 24 years, said an association of lawyers from Aheri had been pressing for a sessions court there since 2008, and had been to the state government headquarters at Mantralaya in Mumbai several times with their demand.

In 2015, when Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai, who was then a judge of the Bombay High Court, came to Aheri to inaugurate a new court building to house the magistrate court, he promised to take up the issue of bringing a sessions judge there, Jainwar said.

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“A minimum of 500 cases are required to get a sessions court, and Aheri did not have that many cases. But the major issue was travelling such long distances on bad roads,” the lawyer, who is from Aheri, said. Yashwant Meshram, another lawyer from Aheri, said: “All my clients felt a sense of relief. I used to travel to Gadchiroli from Aheri four-five times a month, and spend six-seven hours travelling. Now, I can save time, energy and money.”