Indian Judiciary: Credibility at stake

The primary duty of a nation state is to give justice to its citizens. The preamble of Indian Constitution reads: “We, the people of India resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic and to secure to all its citizens: Justice…., Liberty….., Equality….., and ……Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation.” But anyone who had a first hand experience of dealing with the labyrinthine Indian judicial system would attest to a wide chasm existing between what is enshrined in the constitution and what is the ground reality. It takes aeons before judgements are passed and in the process one has to face corrupt officials of the lower courts. The Economist reports: "This week, the government's press department reported that the number of civil and criminal cases pending before India's courts has exceeded 30m, up from 20m in 1997. Among the reasons are a shortage of judges—just 11 for every 1m people, compared with 51 in Britain and 107 in America..... Cases are not assigned to a particular judge for their duration, and are often adjourned. Advocates may take several briefs on the same day, not turning up for some, causing yet more adjournments. " At this rate, as per some calculations by experts, it would take some 360 years to resolve these cases at the current rate of disposal.

This is time for the Supreme Court and the Law ministry to do some deep introspection and take quick remedial actions to clear the backlog of cases. I know it is not an easy task, but then great nation states do not evolve easily. I am not competent to proffer suggestions in this matter, but am sure the experts in the field will have some solutions in mind. They say, 'justice delayed is justice denied'. So, let not the Indian citizens suffer denial of justice.

I am reminded of Swami Vivekanand's words, which are applicable to an individual as well as to our government: "We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act. "