D K Kotwal
Unequivocally, speaking all of us are simply in human form but are horribly deficit in humanity. If we are subjected to any test we are bound to get nil score and our human forms will feel small. May God bestow upon all of us the humanity so that all of us become real human beings but categorically He should bless politicians with it as they have undergone a bankruptcy in it and their working ambit is very very large. These days the parliament has become a veritable bedlam of chirruping. And law makers and so called servants of society ever remain busy in blame game and mudslinging upon each other and nothing concrete crystallizes for the welfare of the people who pin tall hopes upon them while electing them as their representatives.
We could hear one voice of humanity addressing a joint conference of CJs, CMs in the presence of PM. That voice was pure emanating from a conscientious mind pertaining to pendency of cases in India’s over burdened and understaffed judiciary. During his address he broke down several times and could be seen wiping out his tears, this is a rare example of humanity and pure heart. He is desperate in doing good to the society; his inner words can never amount to blaming any one or criticizing someone but that was his inner conscience speaking out free from any mundane scare. Had he not been a real human being he would have showered heaps of praise upon the system and government as other sycophants always stay focused upon doing so.
Chief justice of India, Tirth Singh Thakur launched a scathing attack on government inaction squarely blaming the centre for stalling appointments of judges to the high court. Hr also blamed the centre of doing nothing to increase the no of courts and judges in the country, thus denying the poor man and under trial prisoners their due of justice. The numbers tell the story. Against 1065 posts of judges in the high courts, only 633 judges are in place. In the subordinate courts there are 4432 vacancies. Pendency of cases has different levels
* Subordinates courts: 26488405 (Dec 2014)
* High courts: 4153957 (Dec 2014)
* Supreme court: 59468 (Feb 2016)
CJI told that nothing solid on ground has changed for the last 3-4 decades. There is a acute shortage of judges, ideally speaking for every ten million population 50 judges are required whereas at present 12 judges for 10 million population are in place. The demand is there but where is the supply? There is vehement disagreement between the judiciary on the one hand and the Executive/parliament on the other on the manner of appointment of judges. All this was put across in the joint conference of CJs, Chief Ministers and that too in the presence of PM of India. Unequivocally it can be said that that person has humanity in him. He is desperate in doing good to the society mustering courage to call a spade a spade emanating from his pure soul. He is considerate enough towards those who are in the jails waiting anxiously for the justice because the accused may be acquitted. What will be of the agony and trauma faced by them during the protracted period. At present there is a need of arranging the human resources and infrastructure for the speedy judicial delivery system.
Legal luminaries and other intellectuals are advocating for the establishment of five regional benches of Appeal which will require 40 judges. Why a court of Appeal? For a number of reasons-insufficient number of judges, work load, complex disputes, new jurisdictions etc.-the quality of judgments delivered by the high court is not always good or even. More judgments and orders are appealed against. In the case of new jurisdictions conferred on the high court there is a genuine need to provide Appeal courts both on facts and law. And the status of the supreme court must be restored to that of a truly constitutional court.
PR Sarkar says, “Personally , I think that when some flaws and errors must unavoidably occur ,no matter how excellent the judicial procedure is, it may safely be inferred that it is not nature’s desire that people should penalize others . On further analysis we can see that when ever some action is taken with a view to penalizing some body , it is the sense of revenge or vindictiveness that heaves up in the minds of dispenser of justice, gagging the judge in them ,hence I opine that the word “penal” court should be expunged from the social life or humanity”. The judges deliver their judgments on the basis of evidences, witnesses, cross examinations and arguments of lawyers but no judge can say with certainty that such a person is a criminal or an innocent. In the present system there is hardly any scope or way to verify the veracity of those depositions. In order to determine the truth judges will have to use the sources of the intelligence branch on a large scale and some other mechanism will have to be evolved to have a check upon the work of investigating agencies i.e judges may take the services of jury. Before applying any greater thought to the mood of justice, trials or corrective measures, it is necessary that the standard of the dispenser of justice is properly maintained. Those who sit on the judgment seat as the sole dispenser of the human justice with powers for inflicting the extreme penalty of the law, are to be checked whether their overall judgement power and moral character have undergone any decay. For this proper representative bodies are constituted and they periodically report about the behavior of the judges.
To reform the society at large, it becomes imperative duty of the state and the justice- delivery system that criminals by instinct, environment, habit, necessity, snap volition are dealt with separately and are reformed and corrected. Just as doctors quarantine an infectious patient from the human throng to avoid the spread of that contagion among other people, similarly it becomes necessary to segregate these born or otherwise criminals from other human contact. Their treatment should be under taken in prisons or better still in the penitentiary. Prison is not their abode of punishment but a hospital to get rid them of their disease.
P R Sarkar —- Philosopher and spiritualist says,” Of course they can be cured in a few days through spiritual Sadhna (meditation on the cosmic entity) but for this two, a constant environment is essential. So the environment of prison should be more pure, more human.”
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