| 78182 criminal cases pending in J&K courts | | Under trial cases swell to 97155, experts apprehend 'judicial crisis' | |
Peerzada Ummer
Early Times Report
Srinagar, Nov 17: At a time when 'justice to all' is the slogan of the dispensation in Jammu and Kashmir, records reveal there were 78182 criminal cases were pending with different courts of the state.
Records reveal that the total number of under trail cases in different courts in Jammu and Kashmir was 97155. Documents in possession of Early Times reveal that 4478 cases were withdrawn, but still 78182 cases were pending disposal.
According to a report earlier published by the high court, there were as many as two lakh cases pending in J&K high court and subordinate courts in the state.
As per the data about pending cases till June this year, there were 58552 cases pending in the state's highest court. Of them 53534 were civil while 5018 were of criminal nature.
It revealed that 1202 cases-1076 (civil) and 126 (criminal) were instituted in June. 695 civil and 50 criminal cases were disposed during the month.
Of the overall cases, 22679(civil) and 859 (criminal) were pending for more than five years.
Report further revealed that there were 141910 cases-(48080 civil) and 93830 (criminal)-pending in the subordinate courts. Of them, 3512 (civil) and 4911 (criminal) cases are pending for more than half a decade. Regarding the month of June, it stated that 2253 civil and 14770 criminal cases were instituted and of the 17023 cases in total, 12492 cases disposed. Of them, 1966 were civil while 10526 were criminal cases.
The data compiled in different categories provide an insight into the work load of the Courts at different levels and the work accomplished by the Courts. The data also provided a platform for assessing infrastructure requirements for smooth running of the court proceedings.
Pertinently, the experts have at several occasions translated the magnitude of the constitutional crisis in clear statistical terms and appealed to the government to protect the judiciary from crumbling under the load by speeding up judicial appointments, increasing judges' sanctioned strength and drastically improving court infrastructure.
The latest figures (as on 11 July 2016), as seen from the National Judicial Data Grid and Department of Justice data, state that there are 16,438 judges at the subordinate judiciary level, 621 in high courts and 29 in the Supreme Court. All of this suggests that getting anywhere close to CJI's benchmark of 70,000 or even 65,000 is going to be a herculean, if not impossible, task in the next few decades. |
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