Long wait for justice in India's backlogged courts

New Delhi, India: Sonia waited 32 years to see her rapists convicted, a glacially slow legal process all too common in India where half a million case...

New Delhi, India: Sonia waited 32 years to see her rapists convicted, a glacially slow legal process all too common in India where half a million cases have been pending for longer than two decades.

The violence inflicted on her was horrific and the trauma was compounded by years of painful stop-start trials, beginning in 1992 and ending only last month with six men jailed for life.

"My heart is full of pain," said Sonia, 52, who as a young woman, was bound, gagged and raped in her home city of Ajmer in the northern state of Rajasthan.

"I could not do anything," said Sonia, whose name has been changed to protect her identity. "This should not happen to any girl."

In the world's most populous nation, a staggering 533,000 cases have been languishing in court for between 20 and 30 years, according to justice ministry figures.