ASHUTOSH SARKAR

With one judge for every 78,023 people, the Supreme Court and lower courts have been grappling with a growing backlog of cases, delaying legal remedies for thousands of justice seekers.

Bangladesh currently has one of the lowest judge-to-population ratios in South Asia -- 2,307 judges for 18 crore people.

In India, there is one judge for every 68,775 citizens, while Pakistan has one judge for every 81,417, according to Law Lab, which conducts research on legal, constitutional, and human rights issues.

Nepal has one judge for every 63,000 citizens, and Sri Lanka one for every 55,000.

The Maldives has the highest ratio with one judge for every 4,977 people, followed by Bhutan with one judge for 13,278. Afghanistan ranks lowest, with one judge for every 592,361 people, shows Law Lab data.

Overall, most South Asian nations lag far behind developed countries. For example, the USA has one judge for every 6,667 people and the UK one judge for every 13,140.

In Bangladesh, the shortage of judges has resulted in a backlog of 46.52 lakh cases, causing frustration among litigants and lawyers.

According to a SC report, each judge is now burdened with an average of 2,016 cases.

The Appellate Division has only seven judges, who are dealing with a total of 37,000 cases.

Recently, 25 judges were appointed to the High Court Division of the SC, raising the number of HC judges to 113.

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