The Brave Pedestrian

Mumbai, 1st March, 2018: Sometime today morning or afternoon, Diipesh Bhagtani will be produced before the magistrate, again, for the fourth time since he surrendered to EOW on 11th January. The magistrate may decide to keep him in judicial custody for a few more weeks, or release him on bail. We hope that the magistrate will exert pressure on Mukesh and Laxman (who are absconding) by not releasing Diipesh till they surrender... but that may be wishful thinking. Over 2,500 families who lost their life-savings, their peace of mind, their health and their dreams of owning a flat in Mumbai, are thinking only one thing day and night: "Will we get back our money? How? When?" Meanwhile, gang members and accomplices who systematically helped the Bhagtanis to loot Rs 600 crore are roaming free, because EOW hasn't named them as co-accused in the FIRs. (It's like letting Dawood Ibrahim's shooters and hit-men go free because, hey, they were only employees doing...

Although bail was a right of every individual, it was largely available only to the rich", says Colin Gonsalves of Human Rights Law Network. "When it comes to rich people, the court has double standards. Rich even get anticipatory bail. Salman's case is a shocking case of miscarriage of justice and consideration based on class. First, it's a fit case where he should have got 10 years in jail. Two,  why should his bail plea be heard expeditiously when there are hundreds such applications pending in the high courts. Why should he be allowed to jump queue? It sets a bad precedent," he told TOI. But that's not the only problem. Courts have also been terribly slow in disposing of cases (Salman's itself took over 12 years). Courts have 84.8% pendency in criminal cases while on an average over 60% cases take more than a year for trial to be completed. As many as 41,670 cases take more than 10 years while 1.7 lakh cases take between five to 10 years for the tria...

Seasoned lawyers charge clients large amounts because of their ability to manipulate hearing of specific matters by judges with known political and social beliefs, and habits. In this way, they control the outcome of cases by using the known personal biases of judges, rather than with genuine law points. Indian judiciary has been functioning in this way for decades. Regards, Krishnaraj Rao 9821588114

People get the judiciary that they deserve. After Independence, we have acted as SUBJECTS of judges, and so we have a colonial sort of judiciary. Judges are surrounded by people who bow and scrape and abjectly beg; what else can you expect from them but tyrannical behavour? Now, to change this existing reality, we have to start facing them as CITIZENS, and make them aware that they are public servants. As this sort of behaviour builds up around them, they will be forced to ch ange their behaviour and thinking. The change may happen gradually, over some years. In the meantime, we can expect scenes like the one shown in this cartoon  smile emoticon Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share

About 50% of Indian magistrates (and 80% of public prosecutors) are widely known to take bribes for going easy on undertrials seeking bail. Magistrates safeguard themselves by channeling the bribes through policemen. Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share

Who is biggest human rights violator in India? Judiciary. Why? Because... With the barest-minimum loincloth of "due process of law", our judiciary deprives thousands of people of their Life & Liberty every month, And it keeps them in jail month after month, without a trial. Corruption in magistrate's courts and sessions court is well know and widespread. People who can't afford to pay BAIL, BRIBES & LAWYERS' FEES stay in judicial custody for months, even years without a tria l. Evidently, everybody is fine with that. Not a squeak out of the Human Rights activists & intellectuals. Not a squeak out of the mass media. And damningly, not a squeak out of the judges of Higher Judiciary, custodians of our Fundamental Rights! If We The Citizens don't raise an outcry on this, SHAME ON US. Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share

People get the government that they deserve. Similarly, they get the judiciary that they deserve. So far, after Independence, we have acted as SUBJECTS of colonial masters when face-to-face with judges. And so we got a colonial sort of judiciary... because judges, like any other human being, usually go by the expectations of people surrounding them. Judges are surrounded by people who bow and scrape and abjectly beg; so what else can you expect from them but tyrannical behavo ur? Now, to change this existing reality, we have to start facing them as CITIZENS, and make them aware that they are public servants. As this sort of behaviour builds up around them, they will be forced to change their behaviour and thinking. The change may happen gradually, over some years. And in the meantime, we can expect scenes like the one shown in this cartoon  smile emoticon Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share

Even honest judges are guilty of covering up the sins of their corrupt colleagues, by using the contempt law against outspoken citizens and media-persons. Bribery among judges is an "open secret" Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share

Knowledgeable court insiders understand that the merits of your case are of little importance. Their first question is, "Who is appearing for you?" Their second question is, "You are before which bench?" Third question: "Who is appearing for the other side?" Based on your replies to these questions, they sometimes shake their head in sympathy for you. "No chance, you will be dismissed," they say sadly, without even looking at your prayers, interim reliefs sought and case laws cited. Surprisingly, their predictions are quite accurate. Why is this so? Let us understand. Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share

Is Supreme Court a PART-TIME GUARDIAN of our fundamental rights? Individuals can enjoy leaves, including study leave, casual leave and sick-leave for much more than six months... but can the ENTIRE ORGAN OF GOVERNANCE remain closed for weeks or months? (And please, don't anybody mention vacation judges, who provide only a loincloth of judicial service!) Evidently, it can! And according to the hon'ble judges, India is hale and hearty despite such institutionalized absenteeism. So, let the whole country follow the noble example of our judges, and accordingly, let the government sanction SIX WEEK SUMMER VACATIONS FOR: 1) Police 2) Central & State Government, including Prime Minister, Chief Minister, entire cabinet and entire secretariat. 3) Entire Army, Navy, Air Force and Border Security Force. Let them coordinate the dates to match with summer vacations for the armed forces of Pakistan, China and Bangladesh across the borders. No surprise invasions and ter...

Every few days, the media reports a big judgment that makes it look like judiciary is a defender of democracy and upholder of human rights. But what goes unreported is that every single day, lakhs of undertrials and litigants, and their families, suffer needless pain, humiliation, disappointment, anxiety and mind-numbing expenditure. And exploitation by lawyers. These are the victims of judiciary. Nobody is interested in their story of unending misery. Because there is nothin g grand, colourful or decisive to report -- just human lives rendered meaningless in shades of muddy gray. For these victims of judiciary, media stories about grand judgments are surely like salt rubbed into their wounds. Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share

Bhopal gas tragedy is a blatant example of how judiciary behaves when the interests of big business clashes with those of the common man. Over 5 lakh persons were exposed to the crippling gas Methyl Iso Cyanate (MIC) on the night of 2-3 December, 1984. 3,787 died, 3,900 were severely and permanently disabled. 26 years later, in June 2010, seven former employees of UCIL (including Keshub Mahindra, non-executive chairman) were convicted of causing death by negligence. Each was  sentenced to two years imprisonment and fined of Rs. one lakh. All were released on bail shortly after the verdict. BOTTOMLINE: NOT EVEN ONE PERSON RESPONSIBLE HAS BEEN JAILED YET, 30 years after the world's worst industrial disaster. Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share

If pendency were under control and appellants got a fair hearing, Supreme Court's 6-week summer vacations could possibly have been justified. But such is emphatically not the case. Judges dismiss a majority of the appeals immediately, not even giving a few second to appellants -- many of whom have travelled across the country, and have suffered great financial difficulties to come this far. Many judges contemptuously THROW THE APPELLANT'S FILES on the floor after a couple of  seconds of perfunctory hearing, showing callous disregard for the litigants and the appeal process! Despite such hurried methods, the queue of pending cases before SC is growing longer every year. And the Supreme Court judges have the sheer gall to go on lengthy vacations, en masse! Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share

If our new Prime Minister is really a common man at heart, he should take initiatives to ensure that judiciary becomes accessible to the common man. Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share

Modi-sarkar should pluck the LOW-HANGING FRUITS to give quick results -- such as immediately eradicating "anadi courts" where lakhs of people are ill-treated daily. Installing CCTV cameras in all courts would be a good way to make magistrates, judges, public prosecutors and police stop ill-treating the common man. Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share

India's judiciary comes with a cursed legacy -- 32 million pending cases based on British-era laws like IPC and CrPC. In the eyes of judiciary, Indians are not citizens, but subjects, to be held captive with jurisprudence based on imperialism. The backlog of cases is a huge mess created by lawyers taking stay orders and tareekh pe tareekh, and judges giving it indiscriminately. The language and culture of our jurisprudence is Latin; it is so alien to India's culture that no o rdinary Indian citizen can understand it. Appointments to the higher judiciary are done by a cabal, with a level of mystery resembling appointment of the Pope in Vatican. It is almost as if judiciary is not an organ of India's democratic governance, but an alien thing transplanted from a European mummy. Not only is judiciary arbitrary and rampantly corrupt, but case laws themselves have been distorted by judgments given for money or favours. The question arises: Can this distorted, defor...

Judiciary is an institution for engaging the common man in an endless legal battle, from which there is no exit. It does not promise him justice, but it tells him that directly fighting against his oppressors is illegal, and therefore, he has no option except to go to court. By a subtle creeping process of institutionalized delay & procedure-based denial of justice, India’s common man is being convinced that he is insignificant, and that he can never get justice. Very slowly, year after year, as pendency increases and the possibility of getting justice grows more distant for the common man, he comes to believe in his own powerlessness. That is the creeping danger facing We The People. Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share

The common experience of litigants is that judiciary is NOT for implementation of the laws passed by legislature, and it is NOT for giving justice to the common man. More than anything else, it is for the exercise of judge's discretionary powers, and their ability to grant "prayers" -- whether lawful or otherwise. How can you reform a judiciary that considers law implementation and justice to be merely by-products? Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share

Judiciary is not like a "pipeline" meant for maximizing the output; it is a "filter" that reduces the output to a thin trickle, and retains the maximum number of cases in circulation for an indefinite number of years. Justice i.e. final judgments, is NOT its objective. Its true purpose is SYSTEMATIC DENIAL OF JUSTICE. This deception and exploitation of Indian citizens has been going on since 1947, when we adopted and continued the BRITISH COLONIAL SYSTEM of administration, judiciary, army and police WITHOUT ANY CHANGES. Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share

Shailesh Gandhi recently wrote to our new Chief Justice R M Lodha, and suggested some remedies for giving timely justice to people of India. Read this letter  http://bit.ly/1kaZ7AS  and give feedback to Shailesh. Please email him on shaileshgan@gmail.com Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share