From Reuters, via The Star Online:
China has banned local courts from helping officials enforce controversial social policies such as strict family planning and demolition of property for redevelopment, state media said on Thursday.
The move is part of efforts to give more independence to a judiciary, which human rights groups say is more inclined to bolster the Communist Party’s grip on power than to ensure justice is served.
“People’s courts are not part of township party committees or governments … Any participation in administrative law enforcement is wrong”, the China Youth Daily quoted a Supreme Court circular as saying.
“Township-level courts have been frequently required to take part in daily administrative activities such as demolition, family planning law enforcement, taxation … The courts, which have the obligation to be neutral, cannot take part in any of these.”
