Manthan Topic:Citizens' Appeal

Ensuring expeditious and timely justice to all

Team Details:

Aditi Bhatnagar

Rashmi Agrawal

Swechcha Vats

Dhwani Sahu

Monika Lalwani

• India's unitary judicial system is made up of the Supreme Court of India at the national level, for the entire country and the 24 High Courts at the State & Union territory level.

• Below the High Courts are a subordinate courts such as the

civil courts, criminal courts and various other district courts.

• Each state is divided into judicial districts presided over

by a 'District and Sessions Judge'. (HIGHEST AUTHORITY)

JUDICIARY SYSTEM OF INDIA

The figures tell dark stories of injustice in India: • More than 30 million cases are pending in the courts; • the National Human Rights Commission receives more than

75,000 complaints a year;

• the National Crimes Bureau (NCB) registered 27,000 cases of violence against Dalit’s in 2006; the NCB also reported 32,481 murders, 19,348 rapes, 7,618 dowry deaths and 36,617 molestation cases.

While many of these cases involve disputes between individuals, there are far too many instances of families and communities playing judge and jury and imparting "instant justice".

JUSTICE IS NOT ONLY DELAYED , they abort it. Here are some cases that exemplify the ambivalence of justice in India:

Honour Killings

• Hundreds of Indian women are killed every year. The majority of

cases are not reported to the police. • Villagers in Jind, Haryana, lynched 21-year-old Ved Pal in the

presence of police when he was collecting his new wife. • His crime: Pal belonged to the same sub-caste as his wife.

Caste Conflict

• In 2006, a group of upper-caste men surrounded Surekha

Bhotmange's house in Khairlanji, Maharashtra. • Surekha, her 17-year-old daughter Priyanka, and two sons - Roshan

and Sudhir - were dragged out. • The women were stripped, beaten and paraded through the village.

The men were beaten so badly their faces were disfigured. All four died.

• POLICE DID NOT HELPED

Gender Bender

• Government statistics record a 15-fold increase in dowry related deaths

since the mid-1980s - from 400 a year to around 6,000 a year by the mid-1990s. Since then, there has been a 170% rise.

• Unofficial figures put the number of deaths at 25,000 women a year. Their crime: not bringing enough dowry at the time of marriage.

CAUSES FOR INJUSTICE IN INDIA

COMMON THINKING OF ALL:

• when the legal system and judiciary are so inefficient why should we, hapless

citizens, respect and follow such an anarchic legal system?

• The only beneficiaries in the case are incompetent lawyers who will have brought a

plush flat from the legal fee you pay them for lying, cheating, misleading, wrongly

advising the clients, colluding with the opponent parties. Of course there are a few exceptions.. competent good, honest and sincere lawyers exist; but very few of

them are there.

• There are false matrimonial (divorce) cases that have run for more than 15 years

only to be dismissed or granted which case the justice is no longer relevant.

• Most of the cases are evidently false and illegal ones and they could be dismissed beginning itself so it will save the time of courts and the parties involved and avoid the agony .

• Cost of services of lawyers should be less so that each and everyone

should be less that each and everyone could afford.

• The court must effectively discourage fraudulent and dishonest litigants.

• The court must ensure that there is no incentive for wrong doer in the temple of justice. Truth is the foundation of justice

REMEDIES

PEOPLE IN INDIA STILL IN HOPE FOR JUSTICE

1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chief_Justices_of_India

2. lawmin.nic.in

3. www.thehindu.com