Increasing The Efficiancy Of Trial Courts In India

Trial court is a court in which the facts of a case are decided. The evidence related to a case are put on record in a trial court, the witness testimony is recorded and a preliminary sentence is given for the crime. The criminal justice system in India is extremely slow in deciding cases. Often cases go on for years and a significant portion of the life of an individual is spent in prison awaiting trial. This delay in disposal of cases has been much discussed upon in the recent past. Several lawmakers, jurists and other policymakers have debated on it and have tried to find a solution. The lack of efficient judicial management, the frequent adjournment of trials, the lack of adequate number of judges and judicial officers have been identified as the causes of delay in the disposal of cases. Solutions like reforming the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to make the process much simpler, increasing the number of courts and judges, constituting fast track courts and taking the help of artificial intelligence have been proposed to ease the process. In this essay the author intends to analyses the cause for the delay in disposal of cases and also comment on the viability of the solutions proposed and suggest a way forward to increase the efficiency of trial courts in India.