New Delhi, September 24
The Supreme Court today put the responsibility for the recent lynching of thugs and thieves in Bihar by the public squarely on the judiciary for slow decision in cases, saying abnormal delay in deciding the cases was eroding the people’s faith in the justice delivery system and they were taking law into their own hands.
“… because of the delay in disposal of cases people in this country are fast losing faith in the judiciary… we saw in the media news of lynching of suspected thieves in Bihar’s Vaishali district, the gunning down of an under-trial prisoner outside Patna city civil court, and other incident where people have taken the law into their own hand,” a Bench of Justices A.K. Mathur and Markandey Katju said.
The court said such things were happening because “people have started thinking that justice will not be done in the courts due to the delays in proceedings. This is indeed an alarming state of affairs”.
Asking the government and judicial authorities concerned to take immediate steps to correct the situation, the court said “the needful in the matter be done urgently before the situation goes totally out of
control”.
The observation was made by the court in the wake of a civil suit relating to the partition of a property had been lingering on in courts at different stages for the past 60 years.
The dispute had started in 1947 over a suit for recovery of Rs 7,000 a substantial amount at that time which resulted in the attachment of properties and legal heirs of the disputing parties fought the case right from the lower court up to the Supreme Court.
Without going into the merits of the case after such a long litigation, the apex court directed that the property should be divided equally between the litigants.
