Justice Minister laments for victims of laws’ delays

By Saman Indrajith

Justice Minister Ali Sabry told Parliament on Wednesday (9) that the rule of law had suffered due to delays in the justice system.

Participating in the second reading stage debate on the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines Bill, Judicature (Amendment) Bill and Civil Procedure Code (Amendment) Bill, the Minister said that laws’ delays were rampant due to various reasons.

“I recently read a news report about a woman being acquitted in a heroin possession case after 21 years. It took 21 years to determine her innocence. We do not know what happened to the heroin during those 21 years. We do not know what happened to the memory of witnesses during those years. Some of the policemen involved in the case might have retired by that time. Then there was another case where a 13-year-old child being raped. In that case, the judgment came after 21 years. Usually, land dispute cases drag on for generations. Some testamentary cases drag on for more than 50 years. Imagine a child rape victim at the age of 13 coming to court after 37 years to give evidence how she was harmed. If she is married she has to come to the court with her husband and children.

“Before 1994 the High Court cases were heard before juries. The cases were heard at a stretch to end their hearings. Thereafter that law was changed citing the reason that there was a difficulty in finding jurors. The problem of law delays turned worse.

“We introduce pre-trial conferences presided by a High Court judge or a Recorder Judge to find solutions for the laws’ delays. This will enable to save time and expedite the judicial process minimising trial times. This method is used by many other countries in the world.

“There is an opinion that lawyers would lose if the cases are expedited and trials end fast. That is a wrong opinion. Lawyers in the US or the UK are not jobless because cases complete hearings so quickly there. The actual result is different. When the cases are completed early people have more faith in justice and with that the number of cases will increase, and the lawyers would not lose anything,” the Minister said.