Delayed justice leading to lynching: Pratibha

NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan joined issue with President Pratibha Patil here on Saturday when she said that the judiciary could not escape blame for delayed justice that was fraught with the risk of promoting the lynch mob phenomenon.

In her inaugural address at a seminar on judicial reforms, Patil said: "Time has come when we need to seriously introspect whether our judicial machinery has lived up to its expectations of walking the enlightened way by securing complete justice to all and standing out as (a) beacon of truth, faith and hope."

Patil proceeded to answer the query herself: "Admittedly, the realm of judicial administration is not without its own share of inadequacies and blemishes."

Speaking afterwards, the CJI countered the argument about judiciary being the main culprit for snail-paced justice, saying that the root of the malaise lay in governance deficit.

Breaking away from the restraint that has traditionally been exercised while scrutinizing the functioning of judiciary, the President, with CJI and law minister H R Bhardwaj on the same dais, went on to say that both the Bar and the Bench would be required to address the problem of congestion in courts.