August 17, 2018

An Example of Hard Work : Year 1982 : A Journey to a Village Court..

In 1982, I had just joined district court Bar at Junagadh. Though I was breifless, I was regularly coming to Court to sit in Bar Room.

One day a colleague asked me if I would go to a small village court to seek adjournment in his case.

I said yes and asked for directions about how to reach there.

He said "There is no direct bus or train to this village. You have to board on a bus to Jamnagar. The bus will drop you on highway near exit to Lalpur. From there you will find small goods tempo, which will be carrying passengers from main road to an interior village called Lalpur."

I went.

The bus dropped me on main road near exit to Lalpur. From there I found a small open carriage goods rixa which was carrying 10 passengers at a time. Five could sit on floor of rixa and other five could stand in rixa. I sat with them. All were poor villagers.

The Court of a Magistrate was sitting in one room in a house.

The compound was full of villagers. In courtroom, I could hardly see five to six lawyers at that time.

I got case adjourned and returned by same route.

It was my first direct exposure to poverty of litigants in village courts.

This court was a circuit court from main court of District Jamnagar.

At that time, in 1982, the Justice in India could reached where the Buses and Trains could not reach.

I hope today also, justice is available to villages where buses and trains do not reach. 🙏