“The Indian supreme court has come out to be a clear winner globally “

With the Court taking up over 7,000 cases during the lockdown through video-conferencing, it has become a global front-runner

When we look into the scenario of the court hall everyone has hypothetical thinking that Indian judiciary always lacks behind when it comes to the pending cases and the court hall for sure no doubt has several and thousands of cases pending but then if we look into the number of cases the supreme court has dealt with in this lockdown the numbers are turned out our supreme court to be the front runner in the legal fraternity.

• our apex court: has heard about 7197 cases through virtual hearings. A total of 617 benches sat during this period . some 25,000 video links were shared with advocates for virtual court hearings and benches delivered almost 670 judgements and took up to 206 matters for adjudication.
• England and Wales: cases in these top courts were more than half a million during this COVID but UK’s supreme court heard just 10 cases and pronounced 15 judgements from march 24.
• US: its supreme court pronounced 20 judgements between March 30 and June 8.
• Australia: its top court heard 94 cases and pronounced 12 judgements between April 7 and June 3.
• Canada: its supreme court took 173 cases for hearing between March 27 and June 11 and delivered only 5 judgements.

The cases which came up before the benches were myriad. They included those of migrant workers, which the Court took suo moto cognisance of. They were beset by problems and miseries as they were stranded in different parts of the country. The Court also took suo moto cognisance of the plight of prisoners in overcrowded jails, In Re: Contagion of COVID-19 virus in prisons, and directed states and Union Territories to decide which class of prisoners can be released on parole or interim bail. Further, the Court took into consideration the conditions of children in protection, juvenile and foster/kinship homes and directed that they are rehabilitated with their families wherever possible. Most importantly, the Court took up cases having a bearing on journalistic freedom of speech and expression, including those related to journalists Arnab Goswami and Vinod Dua, and matters related to the internet in J&K. Courts elsewhere, be it the UK, the US, Singapore, Canada, Australia, Singapore or Spain, have all lagged way behind India’s Supreme Court in hearing or disposal of cases. The backlog of cases in the top courts of England and Wales ratcheted up to more than half a million during the coronavirus time. This is an increase of 22%, according to an analysis by the Criminal Bar Association. Claire Waxman, London’s victims’ commissioner, described the backlog as a “ticking time bomb” and stated: “We’re going to see it getting worse and worse.” The UK’s Supreme Court heard just 10 cases and pronounced 15 judgments from March 24 till date.