A STUDY ON THE PENDENCY OF CASES IN INDIAN COURTS vis-à-vis HUMAN RIGHTS

Abstract

In a progressive and developing society, one of the sound principle of the criminal justice system is that “Justice delayed is justice denied’. The delay in dispensation of justice adversely affects the two important fundamental rights which are, right to access justice and the rule of Law. Both are the part of the Indian Constitution. In various decisions, the Indian Supreme Court has under scored the importance of expeditious trial. Right to speedy trial is one of the facets of the Right to life and personal liberty under Article 212 of the constitution of India. According to the Ministry of law, there are nearly five crore cases are pending as of now in courts3. India is on the top in pending of cases across the globe. In spite of the establishment of the tribunals, the situation of pendency is becoming worse. There are various reasons which can be attributed to the situation of pendency of cases. Among them some are; awareness of the legal rights by the people, emergence of new ways of access to justice such as RTI and PIL, inadequate number of judges in courts. Government needs to take initiative in controlling the backlog of cases so that time justice could be imparted to all segments of the society. In present time, the pendency of cases is directly connected to the issue of human rights. Pendency of a case in the court of law endangers numerous human rights. This research paper attempts to examine the various loopholes which leads to the pendency of cases in Indian courts and violates the human rights