Almighty God is Just and it is His justice that pervades the whole universe and it is he who protects the world. Civilization cannot thrive, peace cannot prevail and democracy cannot function if justice is denied to people. People feel that in spite of a complex network of justice delivery in our most populous country of 146 crore citizens, the quality of justice is not up to the mark. It leads people to hopelessness and frustration.
At present there are more than 5 crore cases pending in Indian courts. High Courts are grappling with thousands of cases and 80,000 cases are pending in the Supreme Court of India. It is estimated that we require 400 to 500 years to clear this huge Himalaya of cases.
Our justice delivery system functions in such a way that one may get a judgement but may not get justice.
Poor people, suppressed classes, Dalits and Muslims are in a disadvantaged position in getting justice. This is a consequence of lack of honesty, fear of God, righteousness and sense of responsibility in the society. Our society got the judiciary it deserves. Every Indian knows how callous our police force is and what happens in our lower courts. Even use of bribe and illegal influence is common in lower courts. We had a degree of respect for and faith in higher judiciary and the Supreme Court. But recent events are eroding that confidence also. One shudders when he thinks about the consequences of injustice in our judiciary.
Prominent legal luminaries point fingers at some of the judgements of our judiciary. The Babri Masjid verdict is at the top of such cases. Other cases which are being cited are giving clean chit to Mr. Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, in 2002 Gujarat riots cases and Ehsan Jafri’s murder case,cancellation of the result of Chandigarh Mayor election but no punishment to the accused, verdict against Electoral Bonds but allowing the involved parties to retain the ill-gotten money through the Electoral Bonds. Letting free the culprits of Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 and not punishing even a single leader or worker involved therein.
Think about the repeated assertion from high ranking judgesof Supreme Court and even CJIsthat “bail is the rule, jail is the exception”. Why it was not applied in the cases of Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal? Likewise, we can ask why, in the history of Independent India, thousands and thousands of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs were mercilessly massacred in communal riots? Why not a single culprit was sentenced to death?
Why Omar Khalid, Gulfisha Fatima, Sharjeel Imam, Khalid Saifiand others have not been given bail up till now? Is it not worse than bulldozing justice? Is it not travesty of justice? Are people not justified in concluding that they would not get justice,?particularly if they are Muslims.
Let the judiciary and judges not forget that every person has to die and he would be presented before the throne of Almighty God on the Day of Judgement. If anyone fails in honest delivery of justice, he would be held accountable for miscarriage of justice. Then there would not be any escape from punishment. Are the concerned people listening? Will they take heed and save the country and society?