Improve judicial infrastructure, expand judicial training, and develop an evidence-based approach to reforms
Think of a single, prominent white dot plotted against a black background. Imagine taking a step back and observing the picture. You would not be the only one if you only observed the dot and overlooked the vast expanse of black, though present in comparative spatial abundance. The Supreme Court of India, the white dot in India’s judicial system, is the cynosure of public attention. Specifically, its relationship with the government, judgments in bellwether cases, taking up several public interest litigations and functioning of successive collegiums is the staple diet of front pages of newspapers.
The overlooked expanse is India’s creaking subordinate judiciary, the first and often only point of contact for the common person in the justice system. Overlooking what ails the subordinate judiciary is symptomatic of the natural preoccupation of the legal fraternity to veer towards the sensational rather than the significant. It is an explanatory void that many of us, myself included, have been complicit in creating.
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