Jurists must ensure justice to all in terror cases: President

New Delhi: Jurists must play an important role to ensure justice to the victims of terror and to the persons implicated in such crimes, President Pranab Mukherjee has said. "Jurists must play an important role in ensuring that the wheels of justice move faster -- both to give justice to the victims of terrorism and to persons wrongly accused of crimes they may not have committed," the President said.

In his message, Mukherjee greeted the organisers and the participants at the 'International Conference of Jurists and Writers on International Terrorism' which is to be held on Sunday in Mumbai.

"Terrorism has no religion, philosophy or ideology. There should be zero tolerance towards terrorism. All countries of the world must get together and chalk out a joint, effective strategy to defeat terrorists. "Deploying state-of-art information and communication technologies, harnessing better intelligence and drawing greater cooperation from the people could be key measures in this regard," he said.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) HL Dattu also extended his greetings to the participants and said the topic is of "utmost importance in the contemporary world which transcends national boundaries". "The phenomenon of transnational terrorism invariably reminds one of the macabre image of the 26/11 massacre. It is often represented as the scourge of the 21st century, although this polymorphic threat has manifested itself through the 20th century in horrendous forms," the CJI said.

"The dangers posed by transnational terrorism are becoming increasingly borderless, inviting attention to the need for an effective response from the international legal framework," he said in his message. The CJI said we are faced with the question as to how law can and ought to be used to annihilate inhumanity from the world and strive for international peace.

He said international cooperation towards development of a robust legal framework can go a long way in the war against terror. The conference is being organised by the International Council of Jurists, International Commission of Writers, Department of Law of the University of Mumbai, All India Bar Association and the Indian Council of Jurists.