Jammu, Mar 11: The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed serious concern over the prolonged delay in criminal trials in Jammu and Kashmir, noting that as many as 351 sessions cases have been pending in the Union Territory for more than five years, leaving hundreds of undertrial prisoners awaiting justice.
Observing that such delays are unacceptable, the apex court emphasized that undertrial prisoners cannot be left to remain in jail indefinitely and directed the UT administration to come up with a concrete action plan to expedite the disposal of these long-pending cases.
The observations were made by a bench comprising Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice K V Viswanathan while reviewing an affidavit submitted by Principal Secretary (Home) Chandraker Bharti. The affidavit revealed that 351 trial cases involving 585 accused persons have remained pending for more than five years across courts in the Union Territory.
According to the details placed before the court, a majority of the cases 235 in total are pending at the stage of recording oral evidence of prosecution witnesses. Besides this, 14 cases are at the stage of statements under Section 313 CrPC, 34 are awaiting final arguments, six are at the stage of judgment and two are at the charge or evidence stage.
The bench questioned the reasons behind the inordinate delay and sought explanations as to why witnesses were not being produced for examination in a timely manner. Justice Pardiwala remarked that once charges are framed, trial courts are expected to record evidence and conclude proceedings at the earliest.
The court noted that delays appeared to be largely due to the inability of the prosecuting agencies to produce witnesses before the trial courts, which it said cannot be considered a valid ground for prolonged trials.
The Supreme Court has now directed the UT administration to provide further details, including the number of witnesses cited in each case, the number examined so far, dates of examination and reasons for delays. The information has been sought in the form of a fresh affidavit before the next hearing.
The bench also underlined that the exercise aims to ensure that undertrial prisoners are not forced to languish in jail indefinitely and that justice is delivered not only to the accused but also to victims and their families in a timely manner. (KNC)
