Needless to say, the order passed by the Sessions Judge and confirmed by the High Court was set aside. Nowhere was the High Court pulled up for not noticing these puerile and unacceptable reasons given by the sessions judge while granting a death sentence.

The late Ram Jethmalani once argued in a criminal trial before the Sessions Court (Pudukkottai), argued the appeals before the Madras High Court and later, in the Supreme Court, circulated a note which was then quoted in a magazine:-

“Curiously, the judgment of the apex court does not even mention this serious argument, and today my students in the law college and the devotees of the swami the world over are asking: “ Does India law allow police officers to beat witnesses and does it allow the court to act on such tainted evidence?” My only answer is that our law and legal system are civilized but some Gentlemen in Black who have no experience or understanding of the system, who in all honesty and in conscience should refuse themselves from hearing complex matters of criminal law, are giving it a bad name.

This incident calls for introspection on the method of the selection of our judges of the superior court.” (The Asian Age, 2005)

Coming to the case of Justice Prashant Kumar attempting to sustain a criminal proceedings, though it was essentially a civil one, on the ground that civil matters often got delayed, it must be noted that a few decades ago the ratio between civil and criminal cases was almost equal. But it has undergone a dramatic change and in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where today it is distributed in a ratio of 25 :75.

In a speech made at the Karnataka Judicial Academy, Justice R.V.Raveendran said:-

“After independence, for several years, the num ber of civil cases and number of criminal cases pending in courts were of equal proportion. Gradually, the proportion of criminal cases has increased. At present, out of the 27.5 million cases pending in trial courts in the country, only about 83 lakhs are civil cases and 192 lakhs are criminal cases, that is, a ratio of 2: 5. I n most of the States, the criminal cases far outnumber civil cases. In the states of Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Uttarakhand and Delhi, the ratio between civil and criminal cases is around 20: 80; in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Assam and Rajasthan the ratio is around 25: 75; in the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala, the ratio is around 35: 65; and in the states of Andhra Pradesh (united), Punjab, Haryana and in Chandigarh and other union territories, the ratio is almost equal, that is 50: 50. The exceptions appear to be only Karnataka and Tam il Nadu where the civil cases are much more and the ratio between civil and criminal cases is 60: 30.

It is stated that the existing skewered ratio on account of high pendency of criminal cases shows that the com m on m an is losing confidence in the judicial system (on account of delays, uncertainty of outcome, inflexible results, high costs, etc); and as a result more and more are disinclined to approach civil courts for relief and take law into their own hands, thereby increasing crimes and consequently increasing the criminal cases.”

(2022 (8) SCC J-1)

The Supreme Court must be aware that cheque bouncing cases, which were originally heard by civil courts under Chapter 37 of the Code of Civil Procedure, were taken out and incorporated as a criminal case to be tried by the magistrates under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. Today the filing of such cases before the criminal courts have crossed more than 2.5 million in number and virtually derailed the trial of accused for offences under IPC.

If only the Supreme Court realises the reason for the explosive increase in the filing of criminal matters, it could work towards finding methods to redeem from that position so that an ideal balance could be retained. Unfortunately, the Court has chosen to pull up a High Court judge for his observation in a criminal matter and then punished him permanently by imposing a ban on his hearing criminal matters all the way till his retirement —a move that was totally unacceptable and uncalled for.

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