Thursday, March 11, 2010

Judiciary's own mess - Ocean of pending trials

Courts across India are flooded with litigations. The number of pending
litigations is so huge, that by one estimate, it will take thousands of
years to clear up these pending cases. It is quite normal in India, that
trials run for decades, before a judgement is delivered. Justice delayed
is justice denied. This problem is so grave, that Indian citizens, have
lost faith, that they will get justice in Indian courts.

Various reasons for this grave problem are given. one being that the
judicial process is slow. However there is a very important point, which
the judiciary has failed to address. The issue of frivolous complaints.
Most judges in India, do not follow the Procedure laid down, while admitting
cases. Judges do not apply their mind, when a case is brought before them.
This act plays well in the hands of evil people, whose sole motive is to
initiate judicial proceedings to harass someone. Knowing that it will take
years for the trial to end, the ordeal of trial is one of the biggest
punishment being inflicted on innocent people. Common innocent people,
who are not well versed with the law, are an easy prey for such litigations.
It is the job of judiciary to avoid such vexatious litigations. But
unfortunately the judiciary fails miserably on this front.

This problem can be easily solved if the judges apply their mind, while
admitting complaints, or say framing of charges, etc. On paper, the
judiciary says, that "Anyone is innocent, until proven guilty". However
this principle isn't generally applied in practise. Millions of innocent
people have to face the torturous ordeal of trial in India. It is beyond
doubt, that there is rampant corruption in India. Millions of these
innocents have to face the humilating torture of corruption too, through
the judicial offices. One has to pay bribe, even to lay hands on their
own documents. Despite all these issues, it is pretty unfortunate, that
this extremely serious issue, is not gaining much attention in India.

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