Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Indian judicial system
When I was in India, I had often heard my father say how he tries to avoid judicial proceedings in his private as well as public life. In civilian cases like disputes over inheritance or taxes, the courts in India take an enormous time. This leads to innumerable cases of bankruptcies in the families who have sold off everything in order to pay for the expenditure related to the legal services. In my opinion, this is criminal!
In the two cases mentioned above, the judicial system destroyed the lives of three individuals. The time lost by these men can never be recovered no matter what the compensation is. What kind of bureaucracy we run in India that men like this are conveniently forgotten by the system? All the people who run this system should be ashamed of the way we have treated these three men. I wonder how many other cases like these are remaining to be discovered in our prison system.
I know that anger alone can not solve the problem. I am not familiar with the judicial system of India as I had never had to deal with any kind of legal proceedings. This is one area in which I do not have any expertise. I would have to read about this more in order to figure out some of the solutions. In the meanwhile, let us remember the oft repeated cliche - "Justice delayed is justice denied".
¶ 1:55 PM 
Any Indian who reads the following two new stories will be ashamed of himself:
Patau's husband, Jagjivan Yadav, has been languishing in a UP jail as an undertrial prisoner for the past 38 years, of which he spent 35 years in a mental asylum. When the Supreme Court took suo moto notice of this on Monday and issued a showcause notice to the UP government, the family finally saw some hope of the 70-year-old man's release. "Ab lagta hai ki hamare pita ko nyay mil sakega," says Keshav Ram Yadav, Jagjivan's son.
Two Chinese taken prisoner during the 1962 Sino-Indian war have been released and reunited with their families after 41 years  much of it spent in a mental asylum in eastern India.Few months back, I had come across a story featured in probably BBC that narrated the tribulations of an Assamese man who had spent an enormous amount of time in the prison system as an undertrial.
When I was in India, I had often heard my father say how he tries to avoid judicial proceedings in his private as well as public life. In civilian cases like disputes over inheritance or taxes, the courts in India take an enormous time. This leads to innumerable cases of bankruptcies in the families who have sold off everything in order to pay for the expenditure related to the legal services. In my opinion, this is criminal!
In the two cases mentioned above, the judicial system destroyed the lives of three individuals. The time lost by these men can never be recovered no matter what the compensation is. What kind of bureaucracy we run in India that men like this are conveniently forgotten by the system? All the people who run this system should be ashamed of the way we have treated these three men. I wonder how many other cases like these are remaining to be discovered in our prison system.
I know that anger alone can not solve the problem. I am not familiar with the judicial system of India as I had never had to deal with any kind of legal proceedings. This is one area in which I do not have any expertise. I would have to read about this more in order to figure out some of the solutions. In the meanwhile, let us remember the oft repeated cliche - "Justice delayed is justice denied".
