Speedier justice

The court systems of the sub-continent might almost have been designed to deliver injustice rather than the reverse

The court systems of the countries of the sub-continent might almost have been designed to deliver injustice rather than the reverse. The Indian justice system is truly appalling in its dilatory approach and Bangladesh little better; Pakistan is not quite as bad as either but has nothing to be proud of. For those seeking justice at the lower end of the income scale, or in rural areas or more particularly if they are women the fight can be bitter indeed. And long. The chief justice in his address to the concluding session of the second Punjab Women Judges’ Conference had some constructive words on the matter. Justice Mian Saqib Nisar has hinted that ‘non-traditional ways’ of the dispensation of justice may be the road to travel and that the ‘Alternative Dispute Resolution’ (ADR) may in reality be the only way to tackle delays in the justice system. There are 1.2 million cases pending across the courts in Punjab, of which 3,651 have been resolved through referral to the ADR centres, 11,113 in civil model courts and 4,274 in criminal model courts. Commendable as these figures are they are a drop in the ocean when seen against the backlog of pending cases.

The theme of the conference was ‘justice for women’ and speaker after speaker emphasised the need not only for more women judges but for those judges to make their courtrooms women-friendly environments; and that the rights of women and children should be upheld as per the Constitution — the reality being that not infrequently that is not the case. Fundamental rights may be enshrined constitutionally but there is a gulf between the law of the land and the equalities it espouses.

Whilst we welcome the fact that the conference was held and that it attracted a stellar list of international speakers, events such as this are little more than cosmetic unless the resolutions they so earnestly endorse in their plenary sessions become policy and strategy, the ‘we are going to do this’ rather than ‘this is what we would like to do’ — there being a world of difference between the two. Let us now make closing the gap the priority.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2017.

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