The rule of law is integral to a just order. As an idea, its institution sets the modernity of equal rights apart from the inequity of being at the mercy of someone’s whim. What we institute to govern our lives, however, needs a constant vigil. The India Justice Report of 2022 released by Tata Trusts this week offers a wealth of data which aids that cause by laying bare the inadequacies of our justice system. Covid slowed India’s pace of case-clearance by courts, with the result that our pile-up rose from 41 million in 2020 to 49 million in 2022. We had 5.6 million pending for longer than a decade, with 190,000 for over 30 years. The judiciary remains acutely short of capacity. With 20,093 judges at work, we barely have 15 for every million Indians, less than a third of the 50 recommended by the Law Commission in 1987. Meanwhile, Indian prisons saw a sharp rise in overcrowding to about 30 extra inmates in 2021 for every 100 they were built to hold. Only a minority were convicts, as 77% of them were under-trials yet to be found either guilty or innocent, up from about 69% two years earlier. This figure should weigh upon our conscience. Not only does it make “bail not jail” sound hollow as the norm, since some prisoners surely deserve to be freed, it also speaks of apathy to their plight. Unless there’s a good reason, accusations alone shouldn’t get people locked up, especially not when so many laws allow false charges a wide berth. We cannot ignore this truth of justice: If it isn’t meted out fairly, it doesn’t exist.
The report also places police forces under its lens. State-wise variation is visible on several counts, like vacancies, training budgets, police station cameras, etc. This should not surprise anyone. Except in Union territories governed by the Centre (Delhi included for this purpose), law-enforcers operate directly under state governments, so politics has a structural role in justice delivery at the khaki level. Lack of police diversity is a common problem across states, whether it’s gender, caste or other markers of identity. Be it constables or officers, too few women cops is a notable worry, for it feeds an anxiety over safety which imposes unseen social and economic costs. All police stations are supposed to have women’s help-desks, but 28% do not and many others don’t have women cops ready to respond round-the-clock, although fail-proof help is the least we should expect. No less worrisome are other biases that could arise within a force whose composition doesn’t reflect that of the people being policed. Should political pressure come to bear in, say, politically sensitive situations, then the law’s long arm can get misused. The way out of this perplexity would be de facto autonomy for the police. Unfortunately, this reform looks very hard to achieve, given how little appeal the idea of power dispersal appears to hold among those who wield it. In this milieu, asking politicians to empower police officers so that they can freely obey only their calls of duty might be too steep an ask.
Judicial reforms may make for a significantly less dismal bet. Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud promised action upon taking charge last year and the apex court has indeed seen a few welcome initiatives in a reformist direction. Yet, a standoff between the judiciary and the government over judge selection has placed a limit on the scope of what we can expect. Anyhow, for justice to prevail, change is a must. The status quo just won’t do.
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