NEW DELHI: The government promised swift justice after the gang rape of a young university student on a moving bus in the capital late last year sparked nationwide outrage.
But speed is relative in a legal system so overburdened that even a normal criminal trial can stretch well over a decade. Seven months later, the trial in a special “fast track” court is still plodding along. Take a recent day in the case.
The court was in session just two hours, as it is every day of the trial. Only one witness — out of nearly 100 called in the case — had time to testify. The judge himself translated the testimony sentence-by-sentence from Hindi into English, and carefully corrected the court stenographer’s errors. “That’s not how you spell ‘sign,’” the judge admonished, as assembled reporters and police nodded off in boredom. That was one of the more efficient days in the trial.
On the bad days, the three mercurial defence lawyers delay proceedings with their infighting, accusing each other of colluding with the police or the prosecution. Or witnesses listed for cross-examination don’t show up — so the court adjourns early.
The attack on the 23-year-old woman in the heart of New Delhi on December 16 shook a country long inured to brutality against its women. Hundreds of thousands of protesters poured into the streets demanding justice. The pressure led to the creation of a fast-track court for violence against women, and the rape was its first case. Optimists say closing arguments could be made by the end of August and a verdict reached in September.
“The judge has a busy case load and all of us lawyers also have other clients. We cannot drop all of them and just work on this case,” said A P Singh, one of the defence lawyers. While it’s not unusual in other countries for high-profile cases to drag on, the court hearing this trial was formed specifically for speed, a standard it hardly begins to meet.
Still, if the case does wrap up soon, it would be remarkably fast by Indian standards. One reason for the delays in justice system is a shortage of judges. India has approximately 11 judges for every million people, compared with roughly 110 per million in the United States, according to a 2009 report by India’s Law Commission.
Meanwhile, the rape case keeps throwing up new twists. News reports say defence lawyers have shouted at one another in court. The four accused sit at the back of the courtroom listening blankly to the ongoing testimony. The defence blames the prosecutors, who have called a whopping 82 witnesses compared to their 15.
Rebecca John, a criminal lawyer who practices in India’s top court, said: “The entire legal system needs to be overhauled and made fast-track,” she said. “When you fast-track one case out of 100 you actually slow-track all the others.”
AP
