The latest to join the list of such instances is burning of train at Godhra in Gujarat which led to widespread riots in Gujarat. The trials related to the incidents during riots which saw several people being burnt alive in the Best Bakery case and residence of former Congress MP. All these cases are making rounds of lower courts, High Court and Supreme Court and one can say with certainty that no verdict is likely to be announced in a hurry.

The worst part of the Gujarat controversy is that even the issue of alleged burning of train which sparked off riots is surrounded by conflicting versions and there is danger that this may be followed by conflicting judicial verdicts also. The State has appointed a judicial commission headed by Justice Nanawati and also filed a chargesheet against the alleged conspirators who they claim had burnt the train. This alone could have made a verdict difficult in the light of the fact that the number of accused is rather large and theories of conspiracy involving large number of people are not easy to prove in Courts. In addition a separate verdict announced by Justice Banerjee, who was asked to inquire into the matter by Railway Ministry, has enlarged the area of conflict further as Justice Banerjee has held that the fire started from within the compartment of the train and was not a result of any action by the mob outside. This would virtually knock the bottom out of any case that the special investigating team set up by Gujarat Government may have put together as the case is being heard at present. One wonders how the lower courts will become bold enough to go against the verdict pronounced by a former judge of the Supreme Court. As such irrespective of the verdict that may be reached by the two justices inquiring into the matter and courts hearing the criminal case, matter will never be resolved to the satisfaction of public.

The trend in India is that any case involving politicians seldom gets resolved. One continues to hear how the cases relating to Babri Masjid dispute in Ayodhya during BJP rule remained in limbo. What is true of BJP is also true of other political parties. For instance, all the cases against Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa disapp-eared in thin air after she was voted into power. The latest case to be dropped is related to Taj corridor case against former UP Chief Minister Mayawati.

As for cases concerning Bihar, the list is so long that it would require a separate article running into several pages if all cases were to be listed only. The subject of this article is not the corruption cases against politicians which run at a pace to ensure that no verdict is reached during their life time. As such one wonders if India has only one set of laws or several where the outcome and procedures depend on the status of the accused instead of the nature of crime committed by him. The delay in our courts is no news and it covers all kinds of cases. Justice in case of India may be the result of a well considered material provided to the legal bodies and the system as a whole has earned a reputation for its independence and ability, but as for the issue relating to delays no steps have been taken in the last 50 years and delays are becoming longer and longer everyday. The question which can be rightly asked is how can we boast of being a working democracy when our judicial system is unable to deliver justice in time or appear to be doing its job of delivering timely justice.