The judiciary is poorly funded and terribly under-staffed; millions of cases are in the backlog; and the situation is only made worse by weak judges, unscrupulous lawyers and deceitful defendants
The condition of the criminal justice system in our country is abysmal because it has been ignored by successive Governments. Also, our laws are weak and slanted in favour of the accused. More than 12 years ago, the then Attorney General of India had said: “The criminal justice system in India is on the verge of collapse, owing to inordinate delay in getting a judicial verdict, and many potential litigant seem to take recourse to a parallel mafia-dominated system of justice that has sprung up in metros such as Mumbai.”
Then there is also the issue of poor funding. The matter was raised by former Chief Justice of India RM lodha who sought additional allocation for the judiciary to fill up vacancies in the system. There are at least 270 vacant judicial positions across 24 High Courts in the country. The situation is worse in the lower judiciary, where there are more than 4,300 vacancies. The Narendra Modi Government has allocated a paltry Rs1,100 crore to this sector in the 2014-2015 Budget, against the Government’s total plan expenditure of Rs5.75 lakh crore. Out of the total plan outlay for the Department of Justice, only Rs94 crore has been earmarked for justice delivery and Rs936 crore for infrastructure development.
A review of the existing infrastructure at some of the High Courts reveals that even the new courtrooms that have been proposed for the next few years are not sufficient to accommodate the existing sanctioned strength. There is a huge mismatch between funds that are required and funds that have been provided for the judicial sector across the country. For example, according to the Union Ministry of law and Justice, Uttar Pradesh needs about Rs375 crore but has only been given Rs175 crore; Punjab needs Rs199 crore but only has at its disposal Rs26 crore; while Karnataka has only Rs65 crore when it needs Rs209 crore.
Sometimes the Supreme Court raps the judiciary over delayed justice. While hearing an appeal against the conviction of a person in a corruption case, Justice Dipak Misra of the Supreme Court said on October 9, 2014: “Some lazy lawyers and weak judges were the main cause for the piling backlog, resulting in a delay in the criminal justice delivery system…Adjournments during criminal trials on frivolous grounds have become a pattern in the country. It seems many lawyers and judges have forgotten the Criminal Procedure Code.”
Justice Misra felt that the lawyers did not want to cross-examine a witness. “The days when a defence lawyer cracks a witness is almost gone. These days, it is seen in many cases that during cross-examination, lawyers seek adjournments and the judge defers the case for six months or one year”, he added. The Supreme Court judge was of the opinion that weak judges can be browbeaten. He said, “Recently, in a case from Rajasthan, a lawyer felt dizzy after asking a few questions, and the case was adjourned for over a year.” He also said that “the prosecution responsible, for the delay and felt they needed to show more spines and stop harassing witnesses”.
The data available for the 24 High Courts and lower courts up, to the year ending 2013, showed that 44.5 lakh cases were still pending in the courts. Of these, 34,32,493 cases were civil and 10,23,739 criminal. The maximum pendency of civil and criminal cases together was at the Allahabad High Court, with 10,43,398 cases, while the minimum was in Sikkim with just 120 cases pending at the end of 2013. The Delhi High Court had a total of 64,652 cases pending before it. Of the 2.6 crore cases pending in the lower courts, the Uttar Pradesh subordinate judiciary tops the chart with over 56 lakh cases pending by the end of 2013, out of which 41,98,761 are criminal matters. The Delhi district courts recorded a total of 5,22,167 pending cases, including 3,81,615 criminal cases
It is amazing that, whether one steals hundreds of crores or a few hundred rupees, the punishment is the same. Why should honest taxpayers pay for the trials of criminals who have looted the countryIJ Why can’t we make the convicts pay for their trial, like the UK will soon be doingIJ According to rules that will come into effect from April 13, convicts in England and Wales will have to pay up to £1,200 towards the cost of their court case. According to a news report, the fee will be paid on of fines, compensation order and defendants’ own charges. It will not be linked to the sentence given, but will be set according to the type of case, with the minimum charge for magistrates’ courts and the maximum level crown court cases….The new charge will require offenders make a direct contribution to the costs of running the court itself.
Another problem in India is that of non-performing assets and non-paying assets. These are created because rich people borrow from state-run banks and then don’t return the money. The cases drag in the courts for decades. This brings us back to the basic question: Why be generous to the criminals who knock off the common man’s moneyIJ In fact, the convicts should be made to labour so as to pay for their room and board at the prison. Punishment should also be graded in proportion to the offence committed.
The conviction in crimes committed under the Indian Penal Code has also dropped miserably — from 62.7 per cent in 1972 to 38.5 per cent in 2012. To make matters worse, in serious crimes such as murder, rape and robbery, conviction rates are lower than the national average for all IPC crimes. While the latter has been pegged at 38.5 per cent, conviction rates for murder, rape and theft stand at 35.6 per cent, 24.2 per cent and 28.6 per cent respectively. If he, who breaks the law, is not punished, then he who obeys the law is cheated. This is why lawbreakers ought to be punished — to authenticate the good, and to encourage law-abiding behaviour as useful.