With a combined total of around 3.7 million case backlogs in the country, there is little surprise that, for many of our citizens, justice remains a far-fetched notion, and an unrealistic dream.
This is across all courts -- from the Supreme Court, which has over half a million in backlog, to subordinate courts and tribunals, which are currently holding over 3,000,000 cases.
Such a situation paints a most disheartening image of our criminal justice system, one which is bogged down by bureaucracy, inefficiency, and incompetence, where millions of people are forced to wait around for years to see any sort of resolution in their respective cases.
Is there any surprise, then, that people in this country have lost faith in the criminal justice system, with no hope that the authorities will take it upon themselves, as is their duty, to resolve the various issues which plague their lives?
This lack of faith has paved the way for mob justice to reign, where people take it upon themselves to carry out whatever punishment they see fit, oftentimes causing death or grave injury beyond the crime committed, or worse, to someone innocent.
Such a system also benefits criminals above all else, who can spend years if not decades out on bail with no progress in cases filed against them, or take this opportunity to flee, not to mention the millions of people in this country who cannot afford to have cases stuck in the courts for years.
This is a pathetic system, which must be fixed immediately. A country wishing to be seen as on the road to development cannot have such an inefficient justice system. Justice, after all, cannot be seen as optional.
