TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (4) TMI 1898
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....ssed by the High court of Allahabad dated 23.02.2006 in application under Section 482 No. 20610 of 2024 by which the application preferred by the appellant-herein praying for quashing of the criminal proceedings of Case No. 545 of 1991 arising out of Case Crime No. 115 of 1989 registered with the GRP Rambagh Police Station for the offence punishable under Sections 147, 323 and 504 of the Indian Penal Code, (for short, "IPC") respectively and Section 120 of the Railways Act came to be dismissed. 3. It appears from the materials on record that one Gajendra Singh, constable No. 614, posted at the relevant point of time, at GRP Rambagh, Distt. Gonda, Allahabad lodged a First Information Report with the GRP Rambagh police station referred to above against the appellant-herein and four other police constables for the offences enumerated above. 4. The FIR dated 19.02.1989 reads thus : "Respectfully submitted that on 19.2.1989 at about 20:00 hours I was going to Mess No 1 At that time Constable No. 57 Shiv Charan Tiwari; Constable No 95 Arvind Kumai", Constable No. 51 Kailash Katariya, Constable No. 90 Harish Chandra Joshi and Constable No. 190 Kailash Chandra Kapri who had ....
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....ed to produce any witness. Thereafter, the Court granted a last opportunity to the prosecution to produce evidence, but even then the prosecution failed to examine any witness. Consequently, on 25.05.2022, the opportunity for prosecution evidence was closed and the statements of the accused under Section 313 Cr. P.C. were recorded, in which they denied the occurrence and also declined to produce any defence evidence. Thereafter, the case was fixed for arguments. I have heard the learned prosecution officer and the learned counsel for the accused persons and carefully perused the oral as well as documentary evidence available on record. It is a well-settled principle of criminal law that the prosecution must prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. The case has been pending since the year 1989, and charges were framed long back, and since then the case remained fixed for prosecution evidence, but the prosecution failed to examine any oral witness in support of its case. It is also relevant that in the present case, after investigation, the witnesses cited in the charge-sheet were police personnel themselves, yet the prosecution failed to produce any witness....
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....his stage. All the submissions made at the bar, relate to the disputed questions of fact, which cannot be adjudicated upon by this Court under Section 482 Cr. P.C. No case for interference is made out. The prayer for quashing the entire criminal proceedings of the aforesaid case is refused. 4. Learned counsel for the applicant has prayed that a liberty may be given to the applicant to appear before the court below through counsel to move discharge application and the court below may be directed to decide the discharge application within the stipulated period. 5. Accordingly, liberty is given to the applicant to appear before the court; below through counsel to move discharge application within 30 days from today. 6. This application is disposed of with a direction to the court below that in case the applicant appears before the court below through counsel within 30 from today and moves a discharge application, the same shall be considered and decided in accordance with law. Till the disposal of discharge application, no coercive action shall be taken against the applicant. 7. It is made clear that in case the applicant does not appear before the ....
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....different from any of the other rights enshrined in the Constitution for the protection of the accused. In addition to the general concern that all accused persons be treated according to decent and fair procedures, there is a societal interest in providing a speedy trial which exists separate from, and, at times in opposition to the interests of the accused." (Emphasis supplied) 18. Yet again, the basic principles underlying the right were embodied in the following terms in Richard M. Smith v. Fred M. Hooey, (1969) 21 Law Ed 2d 607 : 393 US 374 :- "Suffice it to remember that this constitutional guarantee has universally been thought essential to protect at least three basic demands of criminal justice in the Anglo-American legal system: '(1) to prevent undue and oppressive incarceration prior to trial, (2) to minimize anxiety and concern accompanying public accusation, and, (3) to limit the possibilities that long delay will impair the ability of an accused to defend himself. '" (Emphasis supplied) 19. In Hussainra Khatoon v. State of Bihar, AIR 1979 SC 1360 this Court after in terms quoting the Sixth Amendment to the ....
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.... of Articles 14 and 19 of the Constitution respectively. In other words, the procedure contemplated by Article 21 must answer the test of reasonableness and must be right, just and fair and not arbitrary, fanciful or oppressive. 22. The same view was reiterated in Kadra Pehadiya v. State of Bihar reported in AIR 1981 SC 939. 23. In S. Gum v. Grindlays Bank Limited reported in AIR 1986 SC 289 this Court was considering a case which went from the Calcutta High Court. In this case the accused was acquitted by the Metropolitan Magistrate. The High Court after setting aside that order gave an order for retrial. In paragraph 3 of the judgment this Court observed: "After going through the Judgment of the Magistrate and of the High Court we feel that whatever might have been the error committed by the Magistrate, in the circumstances of the case, it was not just and proper for the High Court to have remanded the case for fresh trial when the order of acquittal had been passed nearly 6 years before the judgment of the High Court. The pendency of the criminal appeal for 6 years before the High Court is itself a regrettable feature of this case. In addition to it, the order dir....
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.... 6 observed as under : "6. "Recently a 7-Judges Bench of this Court in P. Ramachandra Rao vs. State of Karnataka held as under: (SCC pp.587-88, para 1) "No person shall be deprived of his life or his personal liberty except according to procedure established by law-declares Article 21 of the Constitution. 'Life and liberty', the words employed in shaping Article 21, by the founding fathers of the Constitution, are not to be read narrowly in the sense drearily dictated by dictionaries; they are organic terms to be construed meaningfully. Embarking upon the interpretation thereof, feeling the heart-throb of the Preamble, deriving strength from the Directive Principles of state policy and alive to their constitutional obligation, the courts have allowed Article 21 to stretch its arms as wide as it legitimately can. The mental agony, expense and strain which a person proceeded against in criminal law has to undergo and which, coupled with delay, may result in impairing the capability or ability of the accused to defend himself have persuaded the constitutional courts of the country in holding the right to speedy trial a manifestation of fair, just and reasonab....
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....to their judicial mind to the facts and circumstances of the case before them and determine by taking into consideration several relevant factors as pointed in A.R. Antulay's case (supra) and decide whether the trial or proceedings have become so inordinately delayed as to be called oppressive and unwarranted. Such time limits cannot and will not be treated by any court as a bar to further trial or proceedings and as mandatorily obliging the court to terminate the same and acquit or discharge the accused. 9. While considering the question of delay the court has a duty to see whether the prolongation was on account of any delaying tactics adopted by the accused and other relevant aspects which contributed to the delay. Number of witnesses examined, volume of documents likely to be exhibited, nature and complexity of the offence which is under investigation or adjudication are some of the relevant factors. There can be no empirical formula of universal application in such matters. Each case has to be judged in its own background and special features if any. No generalization is possible and should be done. It has also to be borne in mind that the criminal courts exercise....
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....tute compliance with the requirement of that Article that some semblance of a procedure should be prescribed by law, but that the procedure should be ' reasonable, fair and just'. If a person is deprived of his liberty under a procedure which is not 'reasonable, fair or just', such deprivation would be violative of his fundamental right under Article 21 and he would be entitled to enforce such fundamental right and secure his release. Now obviously procedure prescribed by law for depriving a person of his liberty cannot be 'reasonable, fair or just' unless that procedure ensures a speedy trial for determination of the guilt of such person. No procedure which does not ensure a reasonably quick trial can be regarded as 'reasonable, far or just' and it would fall foul of Article 21. There can, therefore, be no doubt that speedy trial, and by speedy trial we mean reasonably expeditious trial, is an integral and essential part of the fundamental right to life and liberty enshrined in Article 21." In Abdul Rehman Antulay's case (AIR 1992 SC 1701) (supra), a Constitution Bench of the Hon'ble Supreme Court held that right to speedy trial is ....
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....eld that right to speedy trial is part of fair, just and reasonable procedure implicit in Article 21 and is reflected in S. 309, Cr. P. C. and that the said right comprehends all stages viz., investigation, inquiry, trial, appeal, revision and retrial. In paragraph 81, it was held : "81. Article 21 declares that no person shall be deprived of his life or liberty except in accordance with the procedure prescribed by law. The main procedural law in this country is the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Several other enactments too contain many a procedural provision. After Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (AIR 1978 SC 597), it can hardly be disputed that the 'law' (which has to be understood in the sense the expression has been defined in clause (3) (a) of Article 3 of the Constitution) in Article 21 has to answer the test of reasonableness and fairness inherent in Articles 19 and 14. In other words, such law should provide a procedure which is fair, reasonable and just. Then alone, would it be in consonance with the command of Article 21. Indeed, wherever necessary, such fairness must be read into such law. Now, can it be said that a law which does not provid....
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....d pre-conviction detention should be as short as possible. In other words, the accused should not be subjected to unnecessary or unduly long incarceration prior to his conviction; (b) the worry, anxiety, expense and disturbance to his vocation and peace, resulting from an unduly prolonged investigation, inquiry or trial should be minimal; and (c) undue delay may well result in impairment of the ability of the accused to defend himself, whether on account of death, disappearance or nonavailability of witnesses or otherwise. (4) At the same time, one cannot ignore the fact that it is usually the accused who is interested in delaying the proceedings. As is often pointed out, "delay is a known defence tactic". Since the burden of proving the guilt of the accused lies upon the prosecution, delay ordinarily prejudices the prosecution. Non-availability of witnesses, disappearance of evidence by lapse of time really works against the interest of the prosecution. Of course, there may be cases where the prosecution, for whatever reason, also delays the proceedings. Therefore, in every case, where the right to speedy trial is alleged to have been infringed, the firs....
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....hat is called the 'demand' rule. An accused cannot try himself; he is tried by the Court at the behest of the prosecution. Hence, an accused's plea of denial of speedy trial cannot be defeated by saying that the accused did at no time demand a speedy trial. If in a given case, he did make such a demand and yet he was not tried speedily, it would be a plus point in his favour, but the mere non-asking for a speedy trial cannot be put against the accused. Even in USA, the relevance of demand rule has been substantially watered down in Barker and other succeeding cases. (8) Ultimately, the Court has to balance and weigh the several relevant factors - 'balancing test' or 'balancing process' - and determine in each case whether the right to speedy trial has been denied in a given case. (9) Ordinarily speaking, where the Court comes to the conclusion that right to speedy trial of an accused has been infringed the charges or the conviction, as the case may be, shall be quashed. But this is not the only course open. The nature of the offence and other circumstances in a given case may be such that quashing of proceedings may not be in the intere....
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.... 311 and 258 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to effectuate the right to speedy trial. A watchful and diligent trial Judge can prove to be a better protector of such right than any guidelines. In appropriate cases, jurisdiction of the High Court under Section 482, Cr. P.C. and Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution can be invoked seeking appropriate relief or suitable directions. " (Emphasis supplied) 30. In A. R. Antulay's case (supra) this Court observed that the very fact of being accused to a crime is a cause for concern and it affects the reputation and the standing of the person among his colleagues and in the society. It is a cause for worry and expense. It is more so, if he is arrested. It is a serious offence, the man may stand to lose his life, liberty, career and all that he cherishes. Right to life means right to live with full human dignity, without humiliation and deprivation or degradation of any sort. The impact of being an accused is evident from the aforequoted observations of this Court and therefore, there can be no doubt that the tag of 'accused' would deprive a man the right to live with full human dignity. It is these facets and factors t....
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....me High Courts far more than others. As seen above, just four High Courts in this country amount for 76.9% of the pendency. This may well be because of various social, political and economic factors, which are beyond the scope of the current enquiry by this Court. It is a matter of serious concern that 41% of the cases have been pending for 2-4 years, and 8% (approximately 1 out of every 12 cases) have been pending for more than six years." 32. The Court proceeded to further observe as under: "25. Unduly long delay has the effect of bringing about blatant violation of the rule of law and adverse impact on the common man's access to justice. A person's access to justice is a guaranteed fundamental right under the Constitution and particularly Article 21. Denial of this right undermines public confidence in the justice delivery system and incentivises people to look for short cuts and other fora where they feel that justice will be done quicker. In the long run, this also weakens the justice delivery system and poses a threat to the rule of law. 26. It may not be out of place to highlight that access to justice must not be understood in a purely quantitat....
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.... free people. Delay in disposal of cases would destroy that confidence and do incalculable damage to the society; that people would come to believe that inefficiency and delay will drain even a just judgment of its value; that people who had long been exploited in the small transactions of daily life come to believe that courts cannot vindicate their legal rights against fraud and overreaching; that people would come to believe that the law-in the larger sense cannot fulfil its primary function to protect them and their families in their homes, at their workplace and on the public streets. [See Belekar Memorial Lecture Series, organised by the High Court Bar Association, Nagpur. Lecture delivered on 31-8-2002.] 30. Merely widening the access to justice is not enough to secure redress to the weaker sections of the community. Post Independence, it was evident that litigation in India was getting costlier and there was agonising delay in the process. After the adoption of the Constitution and creation of a welfare State, the urgency of some structural changes in the justice delivery system was obviously a major requirement. In the 14th Report of the Law Commission under the C....
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.... "It would seem to be an obvious implication of the principle that everyone is bound by and entitled to the protection of law that people should be able, in the last resort, to go to court to have their civil rights and claims determined. An unenforceable right or claim is a thing of little value to anyone." (See Thomas Bingham, The Rule of Law, p. 85.) 35. The right of access to justice has been recognised as one of the fundamental and basic human rights in various international covenants and charters. [See Article 14(3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Iccpr) . ] The right of access to justice is also recognised under Article 67 of the Statute of the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute) . 36. In the context of the European Union, Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, 2007 provides for the right to an effective remedy and to fair trial. With respect to the Council of Europe, the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, 1950, Article 6 significantly protects this right to access justice. 37. The European Court of Human Rights has held that a broader interpretation ....
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....us. To understand the magnitude of the problem, the Government must appoint a permanent commission to make continuous recommendation on measures which are necessary to streamline the existing justice delivery system. 42. In support of his submission, the learned amicus referred to the report of Lord Woolf submitted to the Lord Chancellor in England: " ... It will not only assist in streamlining and improving our existing systems and process; it is also likely, in due course, itself to be a catalyst for radical change as well ... . " [Final Report to the Lord Chancellor on the Civil Justice System in England and Wales (Lord Woolf's Report), 1996, Chapter 21, para 1." 33. In the case of The National Investigation Agency vs. Areeb Ejaz Majeed [Criminal Appeal No. 389 of 2020 decided on 23rd February 2021], the High court of Bombay observed as under: "29. But, the case of the respondent on the second aspect of the matter appears to be on firm footing. There is no dispute about the fact that right to fair and speedy trial is a right recognized under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The Hon'ble Supreme Court and various High Courts, ....
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....ealt with differently and depending upon the duration that they had spent in custody, they could be released on bail subject to specific conditions. 33. In the present case, the NIA Court has categorized the respondent in category (b) and, by applying the ratio of Shaheen Welfare Association (supra), it has been held that since the respondent has spent more than five years in jail as an undertrial, he deserved to be granted bail, subject to two stipulations being satisfied. It was found that these two stipulations were firstly, that there was no likelihood of the trial being completed in the next six months, and secondly, that the respondent did not have any antecedents or that, if released, he would not be harmful to the complainant and witnesses or their family members. 34. It needs to be examined that whether the NIA Court was justified in holding that the respondent could be categorized in category (b) as indicated in the judgment of Shaheen Welfare Association (supra) and further as to whether he satisfied the aforesaid two stipulations. 35. In the present case, the respondent has been charged with offences under Sections 16 and 18 of the UAPA apart ....
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....aling with cases pertaining to other Special Acts like the MCOCA, TADA, POTA, etc. Therefore, there is every likelihood of the trial continuing for the next few years. There is also no dispute about the fact that even if convicted for the offence with which the respondent is charged, he could be sentenced for imprisonment for a period ranging between five years and life imprisonment. It is crucial that the respondent has undergone more than six years as an undertrial. 37. Considering the aforesaid facts, it needs to be examined as to whether the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the context of granting bail to undertrials, who have already undergone incarceration for number of years, needs to be applied in the case of respondent. In this context, it is necessary to keep in mind that the respondent is accused of offences under the Special Act i.e. the UAPA. 38. It is in this context of the aforesaid Special Act like the UAPA that the Hon'ble Supreme Court has rendered the latest pronouncement in the case of K.A. Najeeb (supra) . While considering the stringent provisions of the Special Acts i.e. the UAPA pertaining to bail, the Hon'ble Supre....
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....t on this aspect, no error can be attributed to the impugned judgment and order passed by the NIA Court, while holding in favour of the respondent. 40. The other aspect of the matter is, as to whether it can be said that releasing the respondent would amount to prejudicially affecting the trial and whether there would be possibility of influencing the witnesses and tampering with the evidence. We have observed that the respondent is an educated person, who was completing his graduation in Civil Engineering when he left for Iraq at the age of 21 years. He categorically stated before us that as a 21 year old, he was carried away and that he had committed a serious mistake, for which he had already spent more than six years behind bars. In the past more than six years of his incarceration, the respondent has argued his case on his own before the NIA Court. He represented his own case before this Court as well as the NIA Court and we could find that he was presenting his case by maintaining decorum and in a proper manner. During the course of hearing, it transpired that his father is a doctor of Unani medicine and his sisters are also doctors. His brother is an engineer. This ....
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....als perforce remain in jail, giving rise to possible situations that may justify invocation of Article 21." (emphasis supplied) 13. Even in the case of special legislations like the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 or the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 ("NDPS") which too have somewhat rigorous conditions for grant of bail, this Court in Paramjit Singh v. State (NCT of Delhi) [ (1999) 9 SCC 252, Babba alias Shankar Raghuman Rohida v. State of Maharashtra [ (2005) 11 SCC 569] and Umarmia alias Mamumia v. State of Gujarat [ (2017) 2 SCC 731] enlarged the accused on bail when they had been in jail for an extended period of time with little possibility of early completion of trial. The constitutionality of harsh conditions for bail in such special enactments, has thus been primarily justified on the touchstone of speedy trials to ensure the protection of innocent civilians. 14. We may also refer to the orders enlarging similarly- situated accused under the UAPA passed by this Court in Angela Harish Sontakke v. State of Maharashtra [SLP (Crl.) No. 6888 of 2015 order dated 4 th May 2016]. That was also a case under....
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....is obvious that a timely trial would not be possible and the accused has suffered incarceration for a significant period of time, Courts would ordinarily be obligated to enlarge them on bail. 17. As regard to the judgment in NIA v. Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali (supra), cited by learned ASG, we find that it dealt with an entirely different factual matrix. In that case, the High Court had re-appreciated the entire evidence on record to overturn the Special Court's conclusion of their being a prima facie case of conviction and concomitant rejection of bail. The High Court had practically conducted a mini-trial and determined admissibility of certain evidences, which exceeded the limited scope of a bail petition. This not only was beyond the statutory mandate of a prima facie assessment under Section 43-D (5), but it was premature and possibly would have prejudiced the trial itself. It was in these circumstances that this Court intervened and cancelled the bail. 18. It is thus clear to us that the presence of statutory restrictions like Section 43-D (5) of UAPA per-se does not oust the ability of Constitutional Courts to grant bail on grounds of violation of Part III ....
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....osed by the trial Court while releasing the respondent, it would serve the best interest of justice and the society-at-large to impose some additional conditions that the respondent shall mark his presence every week on Monday at 10AM at the local police station and inform in writing that he is not involved in any other new crime. The respondent shall also refrain from participating in any activity which might enrage communal sentiments. In case the respondent is found to have violated any of his bail conditions or attempted to have tampered the evidence, influence witnesses, or hamper the trial in any other way, then the Special Court shall be at liberty to cancel his bail forthwith. The appeal is accordingly dismissed subject to above-stated directions." (Emphasis supplied) 36. Thus, this Court unequivocally held that although it was conscious of the fact that the charges levelled against Najeeb were grave and a serious threat to societal harmony and the plea of bail could have been declined at the threshold, yet keeping in mind the length of the period spent in the custody and the unlikelihood of the trial being completed at any time in near future, the High Court was just....
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....on of the directions issued by this Court in Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee vs. Union of India reported in (1994) 6 SCC 731 in the matter of grant of bail to the undertrials in the NDPS cases. In the said case, the accused was in custody past five years and six months and only two witnesses had been examined till the date the High Court passed the order of bail. Relying on the ratio laid down in Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee (supra), the accused therein pressed for bail. It was argued on behalf of the Union of India that no law under Article 141 of the Constitution was declared in the decision of this Court in the case of Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee (supra) and only "one time direction" was issued. It was further argued that the inordinate delay in trial may entitle the undertrials to apply for bail only after due compliance of the requirements under Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure and not otherwise. A Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court, while releasing the accused on bail, held as under: "Right of bail to an under-trial flows from Article 21 of the Constitution of India which frowns upon unnecessary and prolonged detention pending judici....
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....fundamental rights under Sections 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India. In rebuttal, it has been argued unless the petitioner has undergone half of the maxim sentence as envisaged under Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, no such right can be said to have fructified in his favour. That apart, contribution of the petitioner and other accused persons in the delay must also be taken into consideration. In this regard learned Additional Solicitor General drew our attention to the observation of the Apex Court in the cited decision holding deprivation of liberty by the accused persons who have suffered half of the maximum punishment provided for the offence can be held to be violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. We are unable to accept the contentions of the learned Additional Solicitor General for the following reasons. The Apex Court while dealing with the issue of grant of bail on the score of inordinate delay in disposal of trials, had taken into consideration the statutory restrictions under Section 37 of the NDPS Act and held as follows : "15. ... we are conscious of the statutory provisions finding place in Section 37 of the....
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....mmends to us. We were told by the learned counsel for the State of Maharashtra that additional Special Courts have since been constituted by having regard to the large pendency of such cases in the State we are afraid this is not likely to make a significant dent in the huge pile of such cases. We, therefore, direct as under: - (i) Where the undertrial is accused of an offence (s) under the Act prescribing a punishment of imprisonment of five years or less and fine, such an undertrial shall be released on bail if he has been in jail for a period which is not less than half the punishment provided for the offence with which he is charged and where he is charged with more than one offence, the offence providing the highest punishment. If the offence with which he is charged prescribes the maximum fine, the bail amount shall be 50% of the said amount with two sureties for like amount. If the maximum fine is not prescribed bail shall be to the satisfaction of the Special Judge concerned with two sureties for like amount. (ii) Where the undertrial accused is charged with an offence (s) under the Act providing for punishment exceeding five years and fine, such an undert....
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.... concern is poignantly highlighted by the Apex Court in Arnab Manoranjan Goswami Vs The State of Maharashtra & Ors. in Criminal Appeal No. 742 of 2020, wherein the Court held that the High Courts and the District Judiciaries are required to enforce the principle of "bail and not jail in practice and not leave the court of last resort to "s discretion to intervene at all times. The Court observed that the remedy of bail is "an expression of the humanness of the criminal justice system" and it cannot be applied in an inverted manner. If we do not extend the wholesome directives in Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee (Supra) to all under trials (in NDPS case) incarcerating in jail for more than five years, we would fail to discharge our constitutional duty to preserve personal liberty of citizens and apply the balm of humanness to those unfortunate undertrials who have failed to knock the door of the Apex Court We are conscious that delay may also be caused by an accused and it is nobody's case that such a litigant can derive benefit out of his own wrong. However, the principle of apportionment of responsibility in the matter of delay in trial must be counteracted in the ba....
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....ns, subject to the conditions that petitioner shall appear before the trial court on every date of hearing until further orders and shall not intimidate the witnesses and/or tamper with evidence in any manner whatsoever and on further condition that the petitioner, while on bail, shall remain within the jurisdiction of Gardenreach Police Station until further orders except for the purpose of investigation and/or for attending Court proceedings and shall report to the Officer-in-Charge of the concerned police station and Mr. Kalyan Das, Superintendent, Customs, AIU, Legal Section, Customs House, 15/1, Strand Road, Kolkata- 700 001, once in a week until further orders. In the event the petitioner fails to appear before the trial court without justifiable cause, the trial court shall be at liberty to cancel his bail in accordance with law without further reference to this Court. Under-trial detention in India is a chronic malady in the administration of criminal justice. 25th Edition of the Prison Statistics in India as per NCRB Report, 2019 shows that 69.5 per cent of prisoners in Indian jail are undertrials. Under such circumstances and to ensure that equa....
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....t work fully. The reason for the same is also very simple. No court bothers to follow the guidelines. They do not follow because there is no accountability. No one is made answerable for the same. 40. The case at hand is one of causing simple hurt and criminal intimidation. It is, as such, neither a grave or heinous offence nor an offence against the community as such, though all criminal offences are crime against the society. Having regard to the nature of offence, there is enormous delay in proceeding with the criminal prosecution- 35 years for a trial for simple hurt and criminal intimidation is too long a time. Quick justice is sine qua non of Article 21 of the Constitution. Keeping a person in suspended animation for 35 years and that too a public servant without any cause at all- and none was indicted before the High court or before us- gone by with the spirit of procedure established by law. In that view of the matter, it is just unfair and in accordance with equity to direct that the trial or prosecution of the appellant to proceed no further. We do so accordingly. 41. Having said so as aforenoted we could have closed this matter. However, closing this matter with th....
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.... in proceeding further with these cases? iii. How many judicial officers are functioning as on date in the rank of Judicial Magistrate First Class, Chief Judicial Magistrate and Sessions judge respectively? iv. How many sanctioned posts are there in so far as civil judges and JMFCs are concerned? How many sanctioned posts are there in the cadre of Chief Judicial Magistrate? How many sanctioned posts are there for the post Sessions judge? v. How many posts are lying vacant in so far as the judicial officers of different cadres referred to above are concerned. vi. Are there any proposals forwarded by the High Court pending with the State Government for filling up of various posts at the level of Judicial Magistrate First Class, Chief Judicial Magistrate and Sessions judges? Information Regarding Pendency and Tracking of Bail Applications 1. Whether information about the period of custody undergone by an undertrial prisoner is recorded by the High Court Registry in respect of bail applications filed before the High Court? If not, whether collection of such a data point can be mandated for subsequent filings? 2. What is the numbe....