Cash rules in family courts

HYDERABAD: After making four rounds of the domestic violence court in Nampally , Sunitha finally gave in to the clerk's demand of Rs 2,000 to get her case on the list. She had gone to register a case against her son-in-law after her daughter complained she was being assaulted by him.
“This (court) is where people come trying to find justice, but all you find here are people waiting to take advantage of your situation.I was sobbing after spending hours at court, when finally a fellow litigant gave me a loan of a thousand rupees,“ Sunitha said.
Litigants doing the rounds of family and civil courts in the city have been shelling out between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000, and sometimes even more, just to ensure their files move from one hand to another.
The bribe giving starts even before a case is registered and litigants face undertable dealings at each level till the case is wrapped up, officials admit. For people unwilling to accommodate 'all powerful' clerks and office boys, three to four years of doing the rounds of the court is common.
For Vijayalakshmi P, transferring her three BHK flat in the name of her daughter turned out to be a horrible experience. Having shown a sense of urgency, she was compelled to pay Rs 5,000 on a single day for fear of losing Rs 80,000 stamp duty that was paid on the property.
“Even though the judge had seen all documents and had given his nod, the clerk demanded a hefty sum after paying the stamp duty for registration. He pointed out that the original sale deed was not available, which was an issue,“ she says, adding, she has paid nearly Rs 12,000 in bribes during the course of the case.
“I had to even pay to get information about where my case file was, leave alone the status of the case,“ said Prithvi Sharma, who was fighting a property case at the Ranga Reddy court.
Another litigant Christopher Sekaran, in the middle of a divorce, says he was met with a complete shut down of crucial information about presence of interim judges during recent lawyers' and judges' strike. “There were a few people who received preferential treatment, getting dates on the day there was an interim judge. During the period, I went to court a number of times, but never got a date as to when the interim judge was there as I did not pay ,“ said the software engineer.His case is being heard at the Secunderabad family court.
Lathika, who is defending a divorce case at the Miyapur family court, corroborated difficulties faced by people at court. “Many people I have met at the court want to extract as much as possible.This is done blatantly, and without fear,“ she said.
In fact, so bad is the situation that many lawyers are being forced to hand over money. “The first thing that we have to learn is to give bribes under the table,“ said a senior advocate, who did not wish to be named.