Fair and speedy trial is as important as conviction of the guilty and acquittal of the innocent. In the light of this statement, discuss the reasons behind the large number of undertrials in India and measures taken to ameliorate the issues faced by them.

Judiciary in India faces issue of huge pendency of cases (about 37%).

The increase in under trials in India is due to following reasons:

• High vacancy in judiciary, especially in lower judiciary.
• To maintain rule of law and notion of justice hurried is justice burried.
• Higher burden of cases.
• Lack of digitization, slow process.
• Low judge to population ratio.
• Absence of suitable law regarding maximum number of days to resolve a case.

To address these issues, various measures are being taken by government as:

• Establishment of tribunals (243 A,B).
• Alternative dispute resolution system, e.g. Gram Nyayalaya, Lok Adalat.
• Encourage speedy resolution by lower courts.
• Creation of bodies like NGT, which will look into specialized cases.
• Filling of judicial posts.
• Use of ICT, digitization.
• Certain section of cases being moved to lower courts first.

Suggestions:

• Speedy recruitment.
• E-courts.
• Digitization.
• Induce efficiency.
• Strengthen ADR.
• Incentivize by ranking in lower judiciary.

The speedy delivery of justice is one of important rights, therefore resolution process must be fast tracked and strengthened.