The Brave Pedestrian

7 th September, 2016, Cuttack: Earlier this week, Justice Indrajit Mahanty of Orissa High Court admitted that he "carries a loan burden for his long-time business outfit", through an opinion piece that was written on his behalf titled " Media sensation at times hits great guys, hurts society " in The Pioneer. (The "loan burden" is a Rs 2.5 crore working-capital loan for his hotel, The Triple C, which was borrowed in 2009 from SBI. Till this day, amounts ranging between one and two lakh rupees are drawn and repaid every month in the name of "Justice Indrajit Mahanty".) The author, clearly adores Justice Mahanty, writes, "As a lawyer, he became too eminent too soon only because of his keen commonsense, command over the English language and the superb manner of making complex Acts simple for judges and clients alike. He drives points home the same way as smart kids do tricycles." The point of the article is that it is acceptable that...

How many people get justice through the judicial system in India? Probably much less than 1%. The judicial system is so formal and technical that a common person cannot access it without the costly help of lawyers. Less than 20% of people can afford lawyers. The 78% (according to the Arjun Sengupta Committee report) who live on less than Rs 20 per day obviously cannot afford lawyers. Even those who can access the judiciary through lawyers are usually frustrated by the long, laborious and expensive process which takes years or even decades to conclude, during which the litigant gets exhausted- physically and financially. Many of those who get their cases heard relatively quickly, are faced by uncaring, incompetent or corrupt judges. Such people lose their faith in justice itself. Image: http://bit.ly/1UOMlad Thus, those who finally manage to get justice from the system are probably far less than 1% of the population. The problem is that the judicial system in India was...