Judicial delays cause for worry: Expert

Anand, Oct 6: It is not only the slow process of the Indian judicial system that is a cause for worry, equally worrisome is the overcrowding in jails, said a political scientist from Delhi-based Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA).

Dr Jaytilak Guhar Roy was speaking at a seminar ''Reforming Criminal Justice'', organised here yesterday by the IIPA's local branch Vallabhvidyanagar and Ramakrishna Seva Mandal. The seminar was inaugurated by former Gujarat High Court Justice (retd) Arun K Trivedi.

Mr Roy said late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards in broad daylight and the hearing took almost four years and the implementation of the final judgment took a few more months.

Even in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case the judgment came after a decade, he said pointing out that both the cases pertained to important personalities of the country.

He termed the legal process as time consuming and said that had Mohammad Azhar been given a speedy trial and sentenced to death, the Kandahar episode could not have happened. Azhar had given birth to more terrorists after he was released.

Giving a grim picture of the crime situation in India, Mr Roy said the statistics show that every hour 22 violent crimes occur including four murders, seven economic crimes, 39 property crimes, 16 crimes against women, one crime against ST and two rapes.

To a question about J&K Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad speaking in support of Mohd Afzal Guru, he said the unusual behaviour of the Chief Minister was basically out of fear of the local public.

UNI