Reaching the Court Complex
Judicial Officer B is a Judicial Magistrate (First Class). Prior to being appointed through the state judicial service exams earlier this year, she graduated with a law degree and practised as an advocate for a year. As she handles criminal cases, she is required to interact with a lot of local petty criminals on a daily basis.
The Court Complex does not have segregated parking for judicial officers, although a side of the general parking lot is, in practice, used primarily by them. This morning, Judicial Officer B parks her car at her usual spot. She walks to the main building, following the same pathways as the general public. There is only one security guard at the entrance to the building, who recognises her and waves her through. She observes that the baggage screening facility is not working today, and no security checks are being conducted.
The Court Complex does not have separate corridors and the judicial officers are required to take the same route to their chambers as the general public. As Judicial Officer B is walking towards her Chamber, she suddenly stops in disbelief. Someone has tried to throw a bottle of water at her. There are no security guards to chase the culprit, who quickly vanishes into the throng. She recalls another incident, where someone aggrieved by one of her orders threw a rock through her car window and broke it. Due to the lack of CCTV cameras, that culprit was also never found or punished.
Dealing with Vicarious Trauma
Unable to take any action about the incident in the corridor, Judicial Officer B reaches her chamber, which is attached to Courtroom 13. Unfortunately, Judicial Officer B has to share the Courtroom with Judicial Officer X, owing to the lack of adequate numbers of courtrooms in the Court Complex. The space crunch, with the number of judicial officers far exceeding the number of available chambers and courtrooms, has been a persistent issue for the last few months. Multiple judicial officers have raised petitions seeking separate Courtrooms, at least for the purpose of conducting trials and recording evidence. However, despite repeated requests sent by the District & Sessions Judge of the Court Complex to the High Court, new Courtrooms have not yet been sanctioned.
Judicial Officer X, with whom Judicial Officer B shares a Courtroom, has been deputed to have additional charge of POCSO matters for two days in a week. Overlap is inevitable. Judicial Officer B remembers her heart breaking when she noticed a small toy inside the witness box, which the clean-up staff had forgotten to clear away while cursorily preparing the Courtroom for her turn to hold court.
She also remembers Judicial Officer X speaking to her about a young boy who had been called as a witness in a POCSO case, and how terrified he had seemed when he accidentally saw the face of the accused while testifying, as the thin, temporary curtain put in place in the Courtroom had easily come apart due to how often it was being added and removed for each of the judges. Judicial Officer X had taken the witness into their chambers to finish the testimony, although there are no additional facilities for vulnerable witnesses in the chambers either. Judicial Officers B and X have often discussed their guilt in such circumstances, although they attempt to do their best. However, they do not have any Court-provided counsellors, therapists or training sessions to help alleviate their vicarious trauma.
Within the Courtroom
The limited time available to Judicial Officer B for conducting trials results in her case docket never getting over for the day, even when she tries to stay back and hear as many cases as possible. As she climbs the steps to the judge’s dais in the Courtroom, she nearly trips over one of the long wires on the floor, which has been connected to a power switch nearly at the floor level. The stenographer’s computer has been plugged into this switch, leading to some delay while they attempt to fix the wiring and restart the computer. At long last, the proceedings for the day begin.
The Courtroom is extremely crowded with all the accused persons standing in the accused box at the very back of the Court, making it hard for Judicial Officer B to talk to them or hear their responses, as there are no mics. She requests the accompanying police officer to bring the accused persons to the front as and when their case is called, which only makes the proceedings slower as the police officers have to fight through the advocates crowding and jostling at the front of the courtroom.
For one of the cases, the Public Prosecutor requests that the accused person be examined via video-conferencing from jail. When the video-conferencing screen to the side of the dais is switched on, the woeful lack of a stable Internet connection within the Courtroom ensures that the call is unstable, with both the accused person and Judicial Officer B being unable to properly hear each other. The screen has also been placed at a great height, leading to Judicial Officer B having a crick in her neck from squinting up at it.
Judicial Officer B pushes through the causelist and stays till 8:00 PM. Going back into her shared Chamber, she gets ready to finish her paperwork with the singular stenographer who has been assigned to her. She has a small washroom with a dressing area inside, where there is very little space for both Judicial Officers B and X to keep their belongings. After washing up, she sits with the stenographer, signing orders for another couple of hours. She had planned to write judgments for a few cases today. However, without enough time and in the absence of a trained judicial clerk to help with research, she will have to postpone that for another day.
Areas for Intervention
In order to ensure that someone like Judicial Officer B is able to fulfil her duties and effectively contribute towards justice, the following improvements should be implemented in Courts:
1. Arrangements for physical safety and security, including separate corridors/pathways, CCTV cameras and guards;
2. Facilities for smooth conducting of cases, including adequate Courtroom and chamber space and working digital infrastructure;
3. Adequate support staff, including stenographers, typists, and judicial clerks; and
4. Additional support, in the form of training sessions, access to research material, and psychological support to deal with work pressure and vicarious trauma.
Priyamvadha Shivaji and Shreya Tripathy are Senior Resident Fellows, Justice, Access and Lowering Delays in India (JALDI) Initiative at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.
[Ed Note: This piece was edited by Saranya Ravindran and published by Vedang Chouhan from the Student Editorial Team.]
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on this blog are those of the authors in their personal capacity. The following narrative has been drawn from our experiences with the judicial system over the last six years, and is not fictional; it is a composite of the stories narrated to us as part of our conversations with multiple judicial officers in various courts across India. Please see the introduction to this series for more details.