Fast doesn't always mean perfect

The accused in the Delhi gang rape case are being tried in Saket's fast-track court. However, such short-term, quick-fix solutions that do not address the underlying problems plaguing the judicial system need to be carefully analysed from the access to justice point of view before we accept them. These arise when the legal system in question fails to satisfy what British legal scholar Adrian Zuckerman terms as the "three dimensions of justice", namely substantive justice-on-merits, timeliness, and proportionate use of resources. The class divide becomes particularly acute when many socio-economically disadvantaged potential litigants are unable to access the judicial system to seek redress, but are forced to engage with it as accused, at the mercy of courts. Although the SC first mooted the idea of case management in Salem Advocates Bar Association vs Union of India in 2003 and the Law Commission followed it up by releasing a Consultation Paper on case management in 2003, neither the government nor the judiciary have considered these proposals seriously.