Law: Constitution and Hierarchy of Criminal Courts

The Indian judicial system is stratified into many levels. At the highest is the Supreme Court, which is followed by High Courts at the state level and District Courts at the district level and Lok Adalats at the Village and Panchayat Level. The judicial arrangement takes care of conservation of law and order by seeing cases associated to both civil and criminal violations. India has a quasi-federal structure with 29 States further sub-divided into hundreds of administrative Districts. The Judicial structure however has an integrated arrangement. The Supreme Court, the High Courts and the lower Courts establish a single Judiciary. Parliamentary democracy as envisaged in the Constitution of India works, at Union and State level. Especially in the making of law, there is direct participation of the legislature and the executive. It is the judiciary that safeguards the interest of citizens by not allowing the other organs to go beyond their role assigned in the Constitution and also violation of any law by any person. In brief, the Supreme Court of India is the logical and primary custodian of the Indian Constitution, while also being its interpreter and guardian. While, the Parliament enjoys the authority to amend the Constitution, the Supreme Court has the authority to examine the cogency of constitutional amendments. The Supreme Court makes sure that the other branches of government perform their responsibilities in accordance with the Constitution. Judiciary is the absolute authority in interpreting legal issues and constitutional arrangements. The nature of democracy and development of the state depends upon how the legal system conducts itself to sustain the overall socio-economic and political environment.

In this video lecture we will understand the structure of Indian judiciary  and also the competency and functioning of Criminal courts in India.