The
Indian judicial system is the Single and Integrated Judicial System: which has
provided independence from the constitution itself. India has one of the oldest
legal systems in the world with its laws and jurisprudence dating back
centuries and evolving like a living way of life with the people of India
adapting to the changing times. It's a misconception that the Indian legal
system gained a systematic shape and development only during the British rule
rather we have a traditional mindset of following laws and regulations and
doing our duties for the society which can be inferred from the verses of
Manusmriti that Dharma i.e. Rule Of Law is the supreme power in the state and
the King is also subject to Law to realize the goal of Dharma. The integrity and
the transparency in the judicial system which existed at that time were
unparalleled with strict adherence to rules and regulations, which Brihaspati
described in ancient Hindu texts as a Judge should discharge his powers as
being a deliverer of justice; decide cases without any personal bias or without
any expectation of profit following prescribed regulations One of the most
striking features of ancient or Vedic judicial system was the Jury System or
sabhyas, where councilors or jurors act as the advisers of the king or judge,
which is similar to the Jury System in India which existed after the
Independence, but was later abolished after the famous KM Nanavati vs State
of Maharashtra case (AIR 605 1962 SCR) where initially, Nanavati was
declared not guilty but later the verdict was dismissed by Bombay High Court
and the case was tried under bench trial. This was the last case to be heard as
a jury trial in India because as the result of this case, the government
abolished the jury trials in India.
The
judicial system stands as the interpreter of the constitution. India maintains
a hybrid legal system with a mixture of civil, common, customary ethical, and
religious laws within a legal framework inherited from the colonial era and
various legislation introduced in the British era the Indian judicial system is
one the most diversified ones. It stands as Though it has some scars and some
dauntless features to its name. The supreme court stands as the sole
institution which has been preventing the thoughts of many religious
institutions. It has been appearing out as The Indian legal system is
particularly refined, bearing testimony to the ingenuity of human thought. The
threads of Constitutional philosophy have woven an exquisite tapestry of
substantive and procedural laws-Mr. Ranjan Gogoi-Retired CJI of India stated
once.
Lack
of infrastructure is one of the most widespread issues with the Indian judicial
system with the lack and introduction of modern techniques and technology. The
fragmented enclosures of the courts are one of the reasons why not even the
civilians let alone the judicial officers and budding new lawyers refrain from
practicing there.
Today
India dreams of becoming a completely digitized country. We have been
successful to a large extent. But strangely enough, the Indian judiciary is
left behind. This should not be the scenario. The Indian law system should be
completely digitized right from the beginning till the end. This will help in
saving a lot of to and fro documentation time.
It
would surprise many to know that many court halls and rooms for the registry
have not been whitewashed for several years. Broken windows, chairs, shelves,
and almirahs are the broken jewels for these temples of justice.
It
may seem negative to anyone but now there has been a large-scale up-gradation
been made in the Indian courts. The introduction of modern marvels such as
escalators, lifts, advanced technologies has been instances of development of
infrastructure. Many of the district courts have been upgraded with CCTV camera
security. There have been up gradations of technology in many courts.
Artificial intelligence solutions have been seen coming through in many courts.
The e-challan scheme is one of the biggest shows of artificial intelligence
being the new era of the judicial system in India.
India
has several courts within its sovereign arena, district and lower courts, 25
high courts, and the honorable Supreme Court delivering justice in every aspect
and good conscience, not considering any grounds. The Indian judicial system
has never been failing in keeping the constitution’s preamble spirit of
equality aside. But in recent times a scenario of pendency of cases has
increased, the lack of judges has pumped the number of pending cases before the
courts. The pendency of cases is another challenge to the Indian judicial
system. Sharing here my personal experience, there was a man seeking justice
for the death of her death for the past 10 years! During a discussion organized
by the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal, it became clear that a large number
of criminal cases are being shown as pending because of inadequate or
insufficient responses from the prosecution.
India
has a Single and Integrated Judicial System. The Constitution establishes a
single integrated judicial system for the whole of India. The Supreme Court of
India is the country’s highest court, and below it is the High Courts at the
state level. Other courts (Subordinate Courts) work under the High Courts. The
Supreme Court controls and runs the judicial administration of India. All
courts in India form links to a single judicial system.
The
major solution for them is more and law graduates coming up and taking
challenges for becoming judges. This will increase the number of judges. This
is not an easy process. It requires intervention at every step. In fact, at
every level, the number of judges needs to be increased including the Supreme
Court, the High Court, and the lower court.
The
bottlenecks encountered by judges in their day-to-day functioning and their
needs need to be taken into account to ease their high-pressure assignment.
Some people tend to postpone decisions, but judges cannot afford to do so and
must decide several requests and cases every day. A lot of time of judiciary is
also spent while taking futile cases and the PILs filed. One such instance to
lighten up the moment I would like to share is Recently a woman approached
Punjab and Haryana high court seeing the issuance of an arrest warrant against
prince harry saying he didn’t fulfill his promise of marrying her done via
email. Justice Arvind Singh made a sarcastic statement that her prince harry
might be sitting right now in a cyber café. Jokes apart, the kind of futile
cases take a lot of time of the court and in turn cause problems to the
judicial system.
The
introduction of case and court management embedded in the justice delivery
system has solved the pendency of cases to an extent for the Indian judiciary.
The introduction of Case management is an example of the development of the
Indian judiciary. Now I would like to
explain what exactly Case management is. It is a comprehensive system of
management of time and events in a lawsuit as it proceeds through the justice
system, from initiation to resolution. Recently, The Singapore judiciary has
successfully implemented case management, and today its achievements are
recognized across the world as we see today.
Sharing
a brief about a lecture delivered at the Delhi Judicial Academy about 15 years
ago, a federal judge from the United States who practiced case management
informed the judges that he started with about 3,000 cases in his jurisdiction
and three years reduced this number to about 300. Perhaps none of the judges in
the district courts (other than magistrates) have such a large number of cases
on their docket. It is possible, therefore, through effective case management,
to reduce the workload to manageable limits.
Judiciary
as the Interpreter of the Constitution and the laws that may seem hard to one
The Constitution of India is a written and enacted constitution. The right to
interpret and clarify the Constitution has been given to the Supreme Court. It
is the final interpreter of the provisions of the Constitution of India. The
Constitution of India is the supreme law of the land. The Supreme Court acts as
the interpreter and protector of the Constitution. It is the guardian of the
fundamental rights and freedoms of the people. For performing this role, it
exercises the power of judicial review. The Supreme Court has the power to
determine the constitutional validity of all laws. It can reject any such law
which is held to be unconstitutional. High Courts also exercise this power.
Indian Judiciary had come into existence after India earned its independence in
1947. The laws were made as per the societal condition then. But in recent
times, a lot of law has become redundant. Hence, it is time that the Indian
Judicial system does away with the archaic laws and takes into consideration
the present social condition before giving a judgment.
The
legislative government now understands the spoil of time caused by these
unwanted archaic laws, and the legislative and judiciary's constant efforts are
being made mutually. The recent discussion regarding the removal of section
124A, which talks about offenses committed by bringing hatred or disaffection
against the government by different means. The law was primarily formulated
during the British era to suppress Indian freedom fighters. Supreme Court has
realized the need for its repeal.
The
Indian legal system is particularly refined, bearing testimony to the ingenuity
of human thought. The threads of Constitutional philosophy have woven an
exquisite tapestry of substantive and procedural laws- with keeping this very
statement of the Mr.Ranjan Gogoi-Retired CJI of India, hereby I conclude my
ideas on the Indian legal system with a concluding note.
The
Indian judicial system has its laws compiled completely from society; the laws were
formed to portray the very beauty and ethnicity of Indian traditions. The
judicial decisions and the precedents of the courts are one of the biggest flex
of the notion that the Indian judicial system works not for them but for the
citizens to provide justice. The judicial system has been successful in working
successfully in delivering justice and maintaining equivalence among all the
aspects of the constitution. India being a diversified country having rich
cultural and heritage saga and customs to its name, differs from the thought
and beliefs but the Indian judicial has always come over these obstacles and
that is what makes it the best and one of its kind.
The
Indian judicial system is like a growing child and it is developing every day.
From the decisions of Keshvanand Bharti to the justice of Nirbhaya, the Indian
judiciary has evolved to a large extent. It may have some negative and some
positive views but in the conclusion, the judicial system has always been
successful in keeping the spirits of justice high.
About the Author: This Legal Article is prepared by Mr. Devranjan Singh Shekawat, a law student from Seedling School of Law & Governance, Jaipur National University. He can be reached at devranjansingh123@gmail.com
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