"Sometimes, I wonder at my system. Here is an appeal of the year 2013 which gets a quick hearing. In how many cases are we doing so? That's why poor man feels that the system cares only for known persons and the unknown persons (common man) gets ignored," a bench of justices H L Dattu and SJ Mukhopadhaya said on September 12 while dismissing the plea of former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala.
Chautala, who is serving a ten-year jail term in the teacher recruitment scam, had sought extension of his interim bail.
Another bench of Justice B S Chauhan and Justice S A Bobde while dismissing the anticipatory bail plea of IPS officer P P Pandey, accused in Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, on August 12 said: "We are sorry to say that the court's time is being used by senior advocates and big criminals.
"We can say on oath that only 5 per cent of the time is being used for common citizens, whose appeals are waiting for 20 or 30 years. This court has become a safe haven for big criminals. You come here for the sixth or eighth time for anticipatory bail and we should hear as if we were a trial court."
The issue was first brought to the fore in December 2011 by a Delhi High Court judge S N Dhingra, who said: "…criminal justice system needs overhauling so that the constitutional mandate of equality before law is made meaningful and it should not be the case that higher courts are kept occupied by the person with money or power, as is the case today".
Justice Dhingra issued an order that in all such cases where appellants are in jail and sentence is not suspended, courts should fix a time limit for disposing of such appeals.
Lawyer Manish Khanna, who has been fighting for speedy trial for the poor, said: "It is a well know fact that hearing pattern in most courts change when petitions of the rich and powerful come up. Senior advocates who appear for them get special attention."
Khanna, through an RTI query sought to know recently if the high court, after justice Dhingra's order put in place any policy on giving speedy hearing to persons in jail and the reply he got was "issue under submission to the authorities".
Supreme Court demands 22 special courts to try politicians
The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre how far its order on August 5 to set up 22 special CBI courts to try corruption cases involving high-profile politicians and public servants has been implemented.
A bench noted in its order that "Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran frankly admits that the court's order has not been implemented".
It said details must be provided failing which it will summon senior officials from the states. Parasaran said there have been delays in Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh but other states have stated that they will make the special courts functional by November.
In its August 5 order, the apex court had said: "Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh are directed to sanction creation and/or establishment of the remaining Additional Special Courts within a month."
"We further direct that all the 22 Additional Special Courts, for which the government of India had written to different state governments/union territories, should be made effectively functional by the respective states and the administration of Union Territories, by providing necessary infrastructure and provisions for budget.
"As far as manpower is concerned, law secretaries of state governments and Union Territories are directed to get in touch with the administration of the respective high courts and ensure that suitable officers are made available for posting in the special courts within a maximum period of two months," the order had said.
The CBI had told the court that out of 22 additional special courts, 15 have been sanctioned.
Crowding: Tihar Jail in Delhi is reportedly overcrowded to double its capacity, with 75 per cent of inmates being classed as under-trials
Tihar flooded with under-trails
The Capital's Tihar jail is bursting at its seams with 13,253 prisoners - more than double its capacity of 6,250 inmates.
According to the prison's spokesperson Sunil Kumar Gupta, 75 per cent of the inmates are under-trials, many of whose appeals are yet to be heard.
"There is no denying that such a high percentage of under-trials in a jail is a poor reflection of the state of affairs of the criminal justice administration.
"It is a fact that the common man goes into the general queue as far as hearings for bail and appeal are concerned while the rich and influential somehow manage priority hearings," said former Delhi High Court judge R S Sodhi.
Lawyer and civil rights activist Colin Gonsalves said: "The rich and powerful hire high-profile lawyers.
"Their issues then automatically get precedence over the cases of poor man who may not even have a lawyer.
"Therefore, the cases of the rich end up getting exaggerated importance many times eating up lion's share of the court's time."
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