Dear Milords, Will Every Citizen Get the Vantara-Style 21-Day Justice Delivery?
India’s judicial system is often described as a sluggish elephant—majestic, powerful, but painfully slow to move. Cases drag on for decades, files gather dust, and ordinary people wait lifetimes for justice that never comes. And yet, like a flash of lightning in the monsoon sky, the Supreme Court managed to close the Vantara case in exactly 21 days. A miracle, no less. If only such miracles were available off the shelf for every citizen instead of being treated like rare, VIP-only privileges.
Let’s put this speed in perspective. The PIL was filed in early August. By August 25, a Special Investigation Team had been constituted. On September 12, the report was submitted. By September 15, the case was not only heard but also fully closed with a shiny clean chit. Total time: 21 days. In the rest of India, 21 days isn’t enough to even get your case listed, let alone resolved. Undertrials rot in jail longer than that just waiting for a bail hearing. Land disputes shuffle between dusty courtrooms for generations, producing more grey hair than verdicts. But Vantara? Justice arrived faster than an express courier package.
And how was this miracle achieved? Ah yes, the sacred sealed cover. The SIT’s report was tucked away like a state secret, hidden from the public eye. If Vantara’s record is spotless, why not let the sunshine of transparency in? Why the need for envelopes and seals, as though justice were a covert military operation? The very act of concealing what should have been public only fuels suspicion. But then again, secrecy and speed together make for a dazzling cocktail—perfect for silencing criticism while pretending all is well.
Meanwhile, the ordinary citizen of India continues to queue in the slow lane. Someone fighting for pension arrears, someone contesting wrongful eviction, someone begging for bail—all must learn patience, because for them, justice moves at the pace of an oxcart. Perhaps what they really need is not a lawyer but a sponsorship deal, or maybe the good fortune of being linked to something grand enough to command judicial fast-tracking. Otherwise, they’ll have to make peace with the decades-long wait.
So here is the real question: Dear Milords, will this dazzling new model of 21-day justice now be rolled out nationwide? Or is this a limited edition, reserved for the chosen few? Should citizens start appending the word “Vantara” to their petitions so that their pleas might also qualify for express clearance? Maybe every undertrial should rebrand their bail plea as the “Vantara Bail Petition.” Who knows, perhaps then justice will sprint instead of crawl.
The irony is bitter. For once, the courts showed that they can indeed deliver justice with speed, precision, and finality. And yet, the very swiftness in this case only highlights the hypocrisy of the larger system. Justice in India, it turns out, is not blind. It simply wears VIP spectacles and fast-tracks those it chooses to see clearly.
