..And Justice For All!!!

/ The system has failed

The age old adage of Justice delayed being justice denied has assumed increased significance in recent times. The grave miscarriage of justice in the now (in)famous cases of Jessica Lal, Priyadarshini Mattoo and Nitish Kataria has made it abundantly clear in the mind of the common man that justice is at the disposal of the rich and powerful only. Jessica Lal murder case is fresh in our minds, although the Priyadarshini and Nitish Kataria incidents have all but faded from public memory. In a short time, the outrage generated by the Jessica case will also die down and lapse into oblivion. If we take the decisions taken in these cases as the benchmark, then it can be safely concurred that the system has succeeded in obliterating the rule of the law. The critical analysis of the aforementioned and thousands of other cases which have been slaughtered at the altar of injustice. This reveals that numerous factors have operated in collusion to render the system imbecile. Through the ages, the criminal - politician - police nexus has cleverly exploited the loopholes in the judicial process, and has constantly subverted the system through ingenious use of money and muscle power. As was evident in the Jessica Lal case, crucial witnesses turn hostile in the courts at crucial junctures and make a mockery of the testimony. It is common knowledge now that witnesses can be easily manipulated either by the lure of money or by instilling fear of bodily harm in their psyche. The abject failure of the police and the state in protecting the life and person of such witnesses has also compounded the malaise. Moreover, inefficiency on the part of the police and other investigative agencies, willful or otherwise, in the collection of evidence has led to the acquittal of known criminals and anti-social elements, as the evidence presented in the court was either grossly inadequate for establishing the culpability or was manipulated for the benefit of the privileged. More often than not, the prosecution is represented by persons of poor competence, and the natural outcome is that the defence succeeds in creating the reasonable doubt in the mind of the court. As an example, the failure of the police in producing even one credible witness in the court, even though 600 people were present at the time of Jessica's murder, is strongly indicative of the abysmal state of affairs prevailing in the contemporary times. As on date, approximately 3 crore cases are pending in various courts of the country. According to conservative estimates, even if no new petition is admitted in the courts, it would take around 300 years for the present legal infrastructure to clear the backlog. The two major problems besieging the criminal justice system are the huge pendency of criminal cases and the inordinate delay in the disposal of criminal cases on the one hand and the low rate of conviction in cases involving heinous crimes on the other. As chances of conviction are remote, criminals feel emboldened and crime has assumed manic proportions. The law and order situation has deteriorated to the extent that ordinary citizens have lost confidence in the justice mechanism. If urgent and salutary measures are not taken to stem the rot at the earliest, then the day is not far when anarchy and lawlessness shall permeate all the levels of society. All these grave anomalies existent/embedded in the present judicial system need to be set right at the earliest. A system of redressal needs to be evolved, so that the faith of the people in the judiciary can be restored. Malimath and a few other expert committees have strongly recommended substantial revamping of the prosecution and other investigative agencies involved in the process, and increased level of coordination between the prosecutors and the investigators. Apart from this, the following measures should be considered for an effective overhaul of the entire system : * Prescription of stringent qualifications for the recruitment of Judges at all levels, especially in the case of the subordinate judiciary as the judges at the lower level have been implicated

several times in cases of corruption and other associated malpractices. * Weeding out of the corrupt and partisan policemen and prosecutors from the system so as to eliminate inefficiency and tardiness in investigations on the one hand and political influence and favouritism on the other. * Setting up of National and State level Judicial Committees for monitoring the progress of cases, thereby leading to their expeditious disposal. * Setting up more fast track courts, and augmenting the existing ones so as to enable them to dispense speedy justice. * Sensitization of the police and judiciary towards the importance of securing justice for the common man. In conclusion, it can be said that the recent high profile criminal cases have served as a wake up call to the system and to the society at large. We do not need any more Jessical lals and Nitish Katarias to highlight the sordid state of affairs pervading our hallowed institutions, and it is high time that corrective action was initiated so that the negativity associated with the system is purged at the earliest.