Justice in India is very belated

It has been a common experience that justice in India in many important cases is delivered after such great delay that its effect is totally diluted. Cases of such type are those of the Delhi Riots,  Uphar Cinema Fire tragedy, and many other instances which go unnoticed.  With this result, what happen in practice is that many of the key accused get acquitted and very valuable evidence is lost.  The major accused get declared innocent since their guilt could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt.

Indeed, many an accused are being let off on procedural issues.  Having waited for over 18 years in the case of Delhi riots, many of the widows have already died without seeing the culprits behind bars.

The cries of the victims of the Uphaar Cinema and Bhopal tragedies are still haunting the corridors of justice.
Where has Article 21’s guarantee of speedy justice gone?  The slow paced judicial system has become a matter of serious national concern.

We are today seeing justice in slow motion. The tragedy  of the system is that the slow process itself punishes all those who come in contact with it – the winner as well as the loser.

A system which allows heinous culprits to escape the clutches of law needs serious review and overhaul.  One wonders why even in the most heinous crimes do the couris insist on the prosecution to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt and the slightest of doubt regarding the accused’s complicity in the crime results in his acquittal.

One wonders why the law is not made simpler and more understandable.  The judgment should be delivered on the principle of greater probability.  Could a concept of the civil law be not incorporated to the criminal law, wherein a judge will be able to decide in favour of the most probable version warranted by the facts.

Justice should be put on fast tracks to be speed ed up since there are more than 23.4 million pending cases in various high courts and subordinate courts.

In fact, rigid time limit for disposal of the case needs to be prescribed in various categories.  In the United States of America  a 180-day deadline has been prescribed for disposing of a criminal matters, whereas in Japan there is a system of discretionary prosecution in the administration of criminal justice.

The Japanese Code of Criminal Procedure provides for the Public Prosecutor to disapprove to prosecute any case if he considers it unnecessary in the light of gravity of offences and various other conditions.  The Indian System can learn from the plus points of various successful systems all over the world.