The Big Story: Justice delayed

It has been a busy two months in the Supreme Court for those involved in a set of high-profile cases that have been pending for decades. On April 19, almost 25 years after the Babri mosque was demolished in Ayodhya, the court decided to revive conspiracy charges against senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including LK Advani. It set a limit of two years for a lower court to complete the trial. By the time the proceedings end, Advani will be 92 years old.

On Monday, the Supreme Court struck a blow to former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav by directing that he will have to face trial for every individual charge in a 30-year-old fodder scam. Prasad had already been convicted in the scam in 2013, when he was sentenced to five years in prison. Though he had challenged the trial court orders, this disqualified him from contesting elections.

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For decades, starting from the late 1970s, gvernment funds running into hundreds of crores earmarked for fodder in Bihar were systematically embezzled. The racket came to light only in the 1980s, when some government officials blew the whistle. In 1996, the involvement of Prasad, who was then chief minister, emerged.

Both the cases are examples of a serious malaise afflicting the judicial system in India. Cases involving the powerful invariably take decades to complete. It is not rare for the accused to die before the cases reach conclusion in the Supreme Court. The most recent instance of this involved former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who died three months before the Supreme Court in February confirmed her guilt in a disproportionate assets case that had run for 20 years.

Unlike personal crimes, corruption in public life is unique. As the Supreme Court has pointed out many times, corruption strikes at the very heart of the democratic process, undermining public institutions meant to serve the people. By making the system ineffective, corruption, in its worst form, endangers the lives India’s most marginal citizens.

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However, politicians have clearly been emboldened by provisions the legal system provides to delay the delivery of justice. Unless the courts consciously expedite trials in corruption cases, the credibility of the justice system is bound to be eroded. As the English judge Gordon Hewart said: Not only must justice be done; it must also be seen to be done.

The Big Scroll

  • In this 2015 article, Mayank Jain reportson the huge pile up of cases before various courts in the country. 

Punditry

  1. In the Hindu, Emile Chabal on how Emmanuel Macron’s victory in the French elections is a triumph of lberalism.
  2. In the Indian Express, Kamal Mitra Chenoy on what the Aam Aap Party should do by way of damage control.
  3. In the Telegraph, Ashok V Desai on why India should take action against climate change.

Giggles

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Menaka Rao reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promises of more affordable medicine are belied by the NITI Ayog’s push towards fewer price controls:

“The NITI Aayog cites the need for a ‘balanced approach’ towards regulation to achieve the objectives of access to effective medicines and a vibrant pharmaceutical industry as its reason for the recommendation. The agenda document, which was finalised on April 23, says: ‘There is a trade-off between lower prices on the one hand and quality medicine and discovery of breakthrough drugs on the other. It is therefore recommended that the Drugs (Price Control) Order may be delinked from the National List of Essential Medicines.’”