Delayed Justice

Last Seen: Mar 11, 2024 @ 12:26pm 12MarUTC

Jass Kaur
@jazz_90

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   Projections indicate that India is expected to become the world’s third largest economy by 2032. But have we ever focused on the fat figure of pending judicial cases in our country?, which has exceeded 5 crore by the beginning of 2024. Around 10 lakh cases are pending for more than 30 years where the victim as well as the accused both have died. Some experts believe that India has the highest numbers of unattended judicial cases in the world. A report published by NITI ayog in 2018 states that even 324 years would not be sufficient to clear the backlog provided that there is no further increase in the existing cases. 3.8 crore criminal cases and 1.2 crore civil cases are due with maximum of them being at the district level. The root cause of the problem is Low Judge Population ratio. In India only 14 judges are present for 10 lakh population whereas it is 150 in America and 210 in Europe. 25% of the positions are vacant for judges at the district level . Also the procedure of recruitment of  judges is laidback. Recently in Jammu and kashmir not even one single candidate could qualify for the exam and this has happened for the fourth time. There is way less chance of getting promoted from the post of district judge hence it fails to attract talented candidates. Exams are often delayed, due to paper leak which is a major problem. The condition of lawyers is even worse. The current  number of registered lawyers in the country ranges between 15 lakh to 20 lakh and 30 lakh additional lawyers are needed to fix the backlog. On an average it takes 4 years for a single case to be settled. Police have a major role to play in filing the chargesheet and doing necessary investigation but unfortunately there is a huge loophole here too. Indian police is ranked 80th out of 189 countries in the world in terms of corruption. 28 lakh vacancies are available in the police department as of 2017 and no particular data is published after that. 50% of our lok sabha members have criminal records . Money and power is a major factor which helps to delay the police investigation thereby leaving the case pending for years. The financial assistance for infrastructural development of courts constitutes only 0.08% of the annual budget.States dont even provide 1% revenue share for the same. 70% of the district courts do now even have a separate record room which ends up messing up the criminal as well as civil records. Hearings are not scheduled properly so the lawyers have to miss one hearing for the other. According to our former CJI N.V Ramana there is a lack of coordination  between the Legislature and Judiciary . 50% of cases in the country are pending due to governmental  reasons and according to statistics the government has spent 500 crore just for filing the cases. Public Interest Litigation (PIL) is being misused on a large scale leading to overburden for the judges and  disrupting the functioning of the court. All in all the government needs to improve the recruitment procedure for Judges , lawyers as well as the police. Spend more on the infrastructural development of the courts especially at the district level. Plea bargain and Alternative dispute resolution has helped for faster justice and more such steps should be introduced. Reforms are a must in the Judiciary system so that they don’t hinder India’s development in any aspect.