Establishing courts, closing schools

The government has decided to establish four more high courts, which will be located in four houses formerly used as official residences of ministers, in Colombo 07, according to media reports.

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There is a need for more well-equipped courts, given the inordinate law's delays and the colossal backlog of cases that need to be cleared. There have been instances where some court cases dragged on for decades.

Athauda Seneviratne, who served as a Minister of Justice, once revealed it had taken nearly 40 years for a case over a land dispute involving him to be concluded. In 2016, the Tangalle High Court sentenced four individuals to death over a murder that had been committed in 1989! By the time most child abuse cases are concluded, the victims are married with children. This may be one of the reasons why the victims of sexual violence choose to suffer in silence. The same goes for corruption cases; many culprits go the way of all flesh before being convicted. There are many other such cases pending at present. Unless remedial measures are adopted to ensure that justice is delivered expeditiously, the erosion of public faith in the judicial process is bound to take a turn for the worse.