6.87 lakh cases in lower courts
Innumerable Adjournments And Indefinite Trials Plague Metropolitan Magistrates Courts …….Viju B
Innumerable Adjournments And Indefinite Trials Plague Metropolitan Magistrates Courts …….Viju B
The courts of metropolitan magistrates spread across the city and its suburbs are the first doors that aggrieved citizens knock on for justice,be it in a petty burglary or serious murder case.But they find justice is often delayed,if not altogether denied.
Data procured from the registrar and metropolitan magistrates shows 6.87 lakh cases were pending before the 70 metropolitan magistrate courts till March 1 this year,up from 4.9 lakh cases in 2007.In 2005 there were around 1.9 lakh cases pending,but by the end of 2008 it jumped to 6.07 lakh cases.Law officials said pending cases have gone up because of the rise in cheque bouncing instances in the last two years,to 4 lakh.Three additional courts have come up in Kurla,Vikhroli and Dadar exclusively for cheque bouncing cases.In the last few years the number of such cases have gone by over 30 %, a senior law officer said.But legal experts disagree.If the number of cheque bouncing cases have gone up so have the number of magistrate courts.In the last five years the number of courts increased from 50 to 70,which include juvenile and small cause courts.The problem is there has been a decrease in the quality of disposal of cases and cases are adjourned several times as lawyers find it an easier route to avoid conviction for clients, senior advocate M P Vashi said.
But then the countrys judicial system has been known to be painfully slow and even trials in high-profile cases are known to drag on.For instance,the hearing on Ajmal Kasabs role in the November 26,2008 attacks concluded recently and the verdict is yet to come.Contrast this with 2001 shoe bomber Richard Reid who was tried sentenced in the US to life without parole in 2003.Former IPS officerturned-lawyer Y P Singh said,Other countries have fixed time-tables for hearing a case,the plea is brief and concise.Here,lawyers simply go on arguing to stretch a case and there is no limit on adjournments. A case in point,he said,was the Salman Khan-black buck case.Witness depositions concluded in 2004,but the verdict is yet to be delivered.
Data also shows that disposal of cases in the last two years came down from 2.6 lakh to 2.3 lakh cases.The law ministry has opened evening courts but this may not decrease the overall pending figures.People may not want to commute back again in the evening for attending court hearings, said RTI acitivist Chetan Kothari who filed a query on this issue.Kothari said the police need to be more proactive in filing their FIRs and completing their investigation on time.PI
Bhagvanji Rayanji of Janhit Manch,which filed a PIL in the Supreme Court to seek redressal for justice delayed said most states did not have the required number of judges.The SC in 2002 directed the Centre to increase the number of judges to at least 50 per million people.Today we have just 10 judges per million.In the US there are 107 judges per million, Rayanji said.He added the quality of orders also has to be improved and frequent adjournments will make people lose hope in the judiciary.