Here’s what’s up with our criminal justice system

Updated On: 01 October, 2022 07:56 AM IST | Mumbai | Vinod Kumar Menon

Given the huge pendency of cases in courts across the country and claims of underreporting of criminal cases, mid-day holds discussions with experts to see what’s not working and what can be done to fix the same

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While people find it hard to file a police complaint, crores of cases, both civil and criminal, are pending in courts across the country. Representation pic

Try registering a police complaint and more often than not you will face a hard time. And while so many cases go unreported due to this and various other factors, courts across the country have a pendency of 4.22 crore cases, both civil and criminal. Maharashtra itself has pending court cases to the tune of 49 lakh—15,48,611 civil and 33,86,023 criminal cases. In a bid to get a clearer perspective on the criminal justice system in the country, mid-day held a discussion with various stakeholders including top police officer, criminologist, activist, advocate and law student.

Lack of systematic method

Dr D K Goswami, additional director general of police, who is currently pursuing research on wrongful convictions and innocence claims at Cornell Law School in the USA, said, “Crime in India is bifurcated on the basis of seriousness of offences, and a large number of crimes happen due to property disputes, which are technically a civil matter. The fact is that we do not have a foolproof and systematic method in place pertaining to land records. Since civil matters take a longer time to reach finality, people insert a criminal angle and get FIR registered to expedite legal action. This however enhances the burden on the entire justice system.” “It is the need of the hour to invest in setting up judicial infrastructures and filling in the vacancies at the earliest,” he concluded.

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