Here’s what’s up with our criminal justice system

While people find it hard to file a police complaint, crores of cases, both civil and criminal, are pending in courts across the country. Representation pic

Try registering a police complaint and more often than not you will face a hard time. And while so many cases go unreported due to this and various other factors, courts across the country have a pendency of 4.22 crore cases, both civil and criminal. Maharashtra itself has pending court cases to the tune of 49 lakh - 15,48,611 civil and 33,86,023 criminal cases. In a bid to get a clearer perspective on the criminal justice system in the country, mid-day held a discussion with various stakeholders including top police officer, criminologist, activist, advocate and law student.

Lack of systematic method

Dr D K Goswami, additional director general of police, who is currently pursuing research on wrongful convictions and innocence claims at Cornell Law School in the USA, said, "Crime in India is bifurcated on the basis of seriousness of offences, and a large number of crimes happen due to property disputes, which are technically a civil matter. The fact is that we do not have a foolproof and systematic method in place pertaining to land records. Since civil matters take a longer time to reach finality, people insert a criminal angle and get FIR registered to expedite legal action. This however enhances the burden on the entire justice system." "It is the need of the hour to invest in setting up judicial infrastructures and filling in the vacancies at the earliest," he concluded.

‘Crime stats not real'

Shailesh Gandhi, former Central Information Commissioner, said, "Most citizens know how difficult it is to get the police to register an FIR. Our figures of crime are a big lie. The numbers do not reflect the actual crime situation but are the consequence of an unwritten policy to ensure that the number of crimes registered do not go up significantly, as it would make the police and the government look bad."

Shailesh Gandhi, former central information commissioner

"Another reason for underreporting is that officers are held responsible for the number of cases where investigation is pending. It has therefore become a practice to not register FIRs. We need to find a better method to judge police performance," he said.

‘Pendency is worrying'

"The volume of cases pending in the lower courts across the country is indeed a matter of concern. Even petty civil issues turn into serious criminal cases, at times with mala fide intents. And such issues reach the court and remain pending," said Dr Arvind Tiwari, professor and dean, School of Law, Rights and Constitutional Governance at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS),

He said community policing in both rural and urban areas, speedy justice systems in rural parts of the country and alternative dispute redressal systems may not just lessen the burden on the judicial system, but also help citizens get justice in a time-bound manner.

‘Need a reform'

Md Tasnimul Hassan, a final-year law student at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, said, "Over the years, much has been talked about reforming the Indian criminal justice system, however, the actual reforms are yet to be seen. The most crucial of these reforms that are urgently warranted are policing the police and ending judicial backlogs. India's police force is overly worked and poorly trained, which often leads to unwarranted and uncalled for cases being registered and actual cases being ignored."

‘Litigants need to be aware'

Advocate Floyd Gracias, Supreme Court counsel, said, "The workload on the judicial system has enhanced substantially over the past decades. However in the larger interest of justice, litigants ought to consider the gravity of the matter before moving courts. Amicable settlements, where possible, would ease the system of unnecessary cases."

Advocate Dinesh Tiwari, who has been practising criminal law for over two decades, said, "The criminal justice system in India is on the verge of collapsing. The root cause for the failure is the deep-rooted corruption and lack of efficient participants who are responsible for giving effect to the criminal justice system. We need appointment of efficient and non-corrupt officials and judges and also proper monitoring of their activities, to bring about a change. In this failed system, it is the common public who become the victim. Immediate redressal of such issues is of critical importance."

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Court cases pending in Maharashtra