Unannounced official visit
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: January 20, 2014 -
Despite being one of the oldest legal systems in the world as well as the most important components in the process of dispute resolution in the country, Indian judiciary has time and again left the people ‘simply disgusted’ and eroded their faith in the judiciary on account of inordinate delay in the disposal of cases.
Even if it measures up rather well when assessed by the yardsticks of fairness in judgment and independence in its operation, the Indian legal system, however, has always failed, that too, by a long shot, when it comes to the speed and efficiency in case disposal, which are vital for the health and credibility of any justice delivery system.
Of course, there are numerous reasons, some genuine and others not so genuine, for this sorry state of justice delivery system in the country.
Some of the genuine reasons could be cited as inadequate physical infrastructure, understaffing or shortage of manpower and resources, inability to streamline procedures in the Civil and criminal Procedure Codes and lack of seriousness towards developing alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, etc.
In other words, too much time may have gone by but too little has been done to sort out the problem that has undermined the rights of litigants and accused, thus, damaging the credibility of the judiciary, and weakening the very basis of the democratic order.
In the light of this track record, there may be nothing so surprising in the deferment of the much-awaited final verdict on the infamous triple murder case, which would have decided the fate of NSCN-IM 'lieutenant colonel' Hopeson Ningshen in the abduction and subsequent murder of Dr Thingnam Kishan, the then SDO of Kasom Khullen and his two subordinate staffs namely Revenue Mandal Yumnam Token and driver Aribam Rajen in February 2009.
But one can’t help but be suspicious over the manner the pronouncement of final judgment has been postponed so dramatically.
After a three-long year trial, a special court of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which took over the investigation of the case from the State Government in January, 2010, was supposed to pronounce the verdict on Saturday.
However, Justice V.K Gupta, who is to make the final verdict, just went off on an official tour, and the pronouncement of the verdict postponed and kept pending till January 25, much to the amusement of both the accused and victims’ parties, who duly turned up in time to hear it.
Of course, there is no legal provision which forbid a judge from going on an official tour before pronouncement of the final judgment.
But the unannounced official tour of Justice VK Gupta on the day of pronouncement of the final verdict despite fixing the date himself is definitely intriguing.
Is there anything more than eyes could see and ears could hear?
Whatever it may, since the bereaved family members have waited for so long, they can surely hold on to their patience for another one week.
But for the justice to have real meaning, the patience of the aggrieved parties should not be tested.
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