Justice on hold: India’s courts are clogged
India's judicial system is facing a massive backlog with over 5 crore pending cases across various court levels. Structural bottlenecks, lack of mandated timelines, and insufficient infrastructure are identified as the primary causes for these delays.
Why it matters
The massive case backlog undermines public trust in the legal system and denies timely justice, which is a fundamental requirement for a functioning democracy.
Timely justice is a cornerstone of public trust in the legal system, as captured by the classic maxim ‘justice delayed, is justice denied’. Prolonged delays often deter people from approaching courts. Last year, President Droupadi Murmu termed this hesitation the ‘black coat syndrome’.
The article relies on judicial data and official statements to highlight a systemic issue without partisan bias.
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