By- Iliyas Ali
Justice delayed is Justice Denied is rightly the present scenario of India and is also a legal maxim, which means that victims of crime and those accused of crime deserve access to a speedy trial and hopeful resolution. It is believed that the person who quoted “Justice delayed is justice delayed” was William E Gladstone, former British statesman and Prime Minister in the late 1800’s. However, he was not the first to express this notion, and it is arguable that it’s meaning has been explained vividly in many different ways for thousands of year.
India is a second largest populated and democratic country in the world. According to a recent report (Feb.16.2020), there are 60,444 cases pending in the Supreme court, 46 lakh cases in High court and 3.19 Crore in lower court. Apart from these, many are unreported. And also according to the National Crime Records Bureau(NCRB), more than 80% of reported crimes went unpunished due to several reasons and the loopholes in the present criminal justice system.
I agree that people are losing faith in judiciary. It is mainly because of long procedural delays and inevitable adjournments .That is why people are approaching the mafia which believe in out summary justice.
The preamble to the Indian Constitution declares that: “We the people of India having solemnly resolved to constitute India into sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic and to secure to all its citizens- Justice, Social, economic and political. However, seventh decades after independence, we have endless law, but not enough justice. The founding father of Indian constitution (Dr Bim Rao Ambedkar) place “justice” at the highest pedestal and our preamble to the constitution place justice higher than the other features like liberty, equality and fraternity. People use to go to the judiciary to pursue a goal of justice. Indian judiciary is one of the main pillars of democracy.
There are enormous number of cases which set the instance of our main subject “Justice delayed is justice denied”. Out of which let’s put forward the Nirbhaya (the fearless one) tragic case. The incident took place(16 December,2012) in Delhi (Capital of India) where she was gang-raped and murdered. Since then her parents were seeking the justice. On January 7,2020 after seven years of incident, a court confirmed a death warrants for all the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case on 22 January,2020. We thought that Nirbhaya would finally rest in peace. Days later, date of hanging has been changed multiple time since then and the justice appear to escape from Nirbhaya parents and we were reminded of excruciating delays in India’s judiciary system. After a long journey of court procedure, Nirbhaya case accomplished by hanging all the four perpetrators on 20 March,2020 . Nirbhaya got her justice but there are many cases whose court procedures remained static or sometime, they even quit the case as it was a long journey of contend. Besides, Majority of Indian are poor and illiterate but still they manage to go to courts by paying their hand earned money to advocates, law clerks and fail to get justice. This has been a curse and a major drawback to Indian judicial justice. Martin Luther rightly said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.
What everyone urge is to disclose every aspect of evidence and give the valid justice as fast as possible, if feasible. There is also a says, “Hit it, when it is hot”. Moreover, Justice in hurry is justice worry”. It mean to say is that justice must not seek too fast that the innocent could be treated as culprit. As we see many a time right after the incident, first and foremost police arrest the suspected person without any valid evidence. Further going through court trail it found to be innocent. So, little delay a case may also bring the right justice.
Lastly, in viewing above mentioned perspectives. Justice must not be too late to mislead the evidence nor too fast to consider the innocent as guilty and ruin his entire life. Certainly “Justice delayed is justice denied” but the opposite of that “Swift justice is injustice” is also true”.
**** The writer is a student of Al Ameen Arts, Science and Commerce College, Bangalore , presently ensuing B.A, 5th Semester. He can be contacted at Cell Phone No. 9089801044 or at E-mail:- [email protected] .
