Expressing its anguish on trials taking years in lower courts, the Supreme Court has said that the proceedings must be concluded within a reasonable time. It expressed its deep concern over the unhappy state of affairs in the lower courts.
A bench comprising of justices Swatanter Kumar and Madan B Lokur said that the governments and the courts must gear up the administrative machinery for quick disposal of cases.
‘It is high time that the state and the courts gear up their administrative machinery so that at least a trial for a heinous offence gets concluded within a reasonable period,’ said the court.
The apex court was hearing a case of a 1983 murder case and the trial in the said case went on for 14 years. Delivering its verdict, the bench upheld the trial court’s verdict awarding life imprisonment to the convict.
‘The investigation took almost four years to complete despite eyewitnesses who knew the appellant. The trial concluded after another 14 years or about 18 years after the murder. This is a rather unhappy state of affairs,’ the bench said.
The murder in this case was committed on the intervening night of 8-9 October, 1983 and a charge sheet was filed sometime in 1987. The trial court judgement came on 29 June, 2001.
‘These time gaps are telling,’ the court said.
A bench comprising of justices Swatanter Kumar and Madan B Lokur said that the governments and the courts must gear up the administrative machinery for quick disposal of cases.
‘It is high time that the state and the courts gear up their administrative machinery so that at least a trial for a heinous offence gets concluded within a reasonable period,’ said the court.
The apex court was hearing a case of a 1983 murder case and the trial in the said case went on for 14 years. Delivering its verdict, the bench upheld the trial court’s verdict awarding life imprisonment to the convict.
‘The investigation took almost four years to complete despite eyewitnesses who knew the appellant. The trial concluded after another 14 years or about 18 years after the murder. This is a rather unhappy state of affairs,’ the bench said.
The murder in this case was committed on the intervening night of 8-9 October, 1983 and a charge sheet was filed sometime in 1987. The trial court judgement came on 29 June, 2001.
‘These time gaps are telling,’ the court said.