One of the bane of the Indian Judicial system is the delay in the judicial process
that is common. While the ostensible reason for delay in most cases is
to provide more time for justice to be brought forth through collection
of evidences, in practice the delays often work at killing the available
evidences.
Over a period of time, the accumulated cases in the courts have grown so much that
the Judges have to spend a large part of their time just in finding dates for adjournments.
They feel relieved if a case can be adjourned so that they tend to accept
any excuse the lawyers may provide for adjournment. The lawyers themselves have developed
a vested interest in the adjournments since it keeps them artificially
employed over a longer time. In the process,
honest litigants feel harassed and dishonest litigants encash the benefits
of the delay. Most evidences are destroyed by the time they are taken up
for scrutiny as witnesses forget the events and make mistakes. The only
beneficiary of this system is the criminal who can dodge the law for as
long as he wishes.
These problems are so overwhelming that any hopes of improvement in the system
has long been given up.
Now the fast growth in Cyber Crimes will introduce
further strain on the system in two ways.
1. The Cyber Cases being new in nature, the advocates will seek more
time for gathering evidence and preparing for the case. The judge also
needs more time to understand the nuances of the case and it may become necessary to consult an
expert from time to time.
2. The Cyber world is used to traveling across the globe at the speed
of the "Click". For Cyber litigants, the normal delays may become unbearable.
Their expectations will be for "Resolution at the speed of the Click".
The twin effects of the above two factors will make the existing judicial
system in India incapable of satisfying the community. The system will
therefore be of no use to the Country unless major reforms are made.
The litigants may even abandon recourse to the judicial process to settle
their disputes and perhaps seek the assistance of "Cyber Thugs".
The community should therefore think of
setting up a new efficient system to meet the needs of the Cyber litigants.
The first requirement of such a system is to enable filing of Electronic
FIRs, Petitions, Affidavits etc. supported by a digital certificate as
the basis of identification.
Secondly the E-Courts should be equipped with Cyber savvy judges. Since
it will take some time to create Cyber savvy judges, India should revise
its system to introduce the Jury based trials for Cyber cases in E-Courts.
This will enable cases to be decided quickly and efficiently since the
services of experts can be recruited for the jury.
Provision should be made for the witnesses to submit digitally signed
electronic statements, if necessary through a video conferencing facility.
This would be the only way witnesses at far off places can conveniently
take part in the judicial process.
Will Indian Judicial Managers, agree to change its age old system? Let's hope so.
in such a case, this would be the beginning of a new era where the benefits of IT would bring
relief to the litigants in the Courts of India.
