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.

"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.

More than three-quarters of them are criminal cases.

Last year, the Supreme Court warned victims may become "disillusioned when the legal process moves at a snail's pace", expressing their "anguish" at some cases taking as long as 65 years.

Nearly 3,000 cases nationwide have been pending for at least half a century.

Sonia, against many expectations, eventually........

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