A complainant who was fined Rs 10,000 for asking the Delhi High Court to speed up a cheating trial has won in the Supreme Court, which held that a victim has the right to seek speedy trial like the accused, and can move the High Court under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, […]
On a PIL flagging delays in child sexual abuse probes, the Delhi High Court has directed the Commissioner of Police to decide within three months on a proposal for dedicated POCSO investigation teams in every police district of the capital. New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has directed the Commissioner of Delhi Police to take […]
Justice Vinod Diwakar of the Allahabad High Court has observed that an impression was given that the last two Full Court meetings were stage-managed, noting that only 16 such meetings were convened in ten years, that no policy matter or annual report reached the Full Court, and that individual Judges’ concurrence or dissent is never recorded.
A Division Bench of the Delhi High Court has granted bail to Naim @ Mohd. Naeem, accused by the NIA of arranging weapons for an alleged ISIS-linked terror module, noting that he has been in custody since January 2019, that only 42 of 112 witnesses have been examined, and that there is no possibility of the trial concluding soon.
The Orissa High Court has declined to transfer the trial of an acid-attack case from Parlakhemundi to Berhampur, finding no substance in the accused’s allegations of obstruction and intimidation by the local Bar, which the Registrar’s report and the informant contradicted. To address the accused’s concern that the presence of Bar members created an intimidating atmosphere, the Court directed that the trial be conducted in camera and concluded expeditiously, in line with the Supreme Court’s time-bound directions for acid-attack cases in Shaheen Malik.
Asked to direct a High Court to dispose of a pending quashing petition within four weeks, the Supreme Court declined, with Justice BV Nagarathna observing that it does not like to set disposal dates even for district judges, because every judge has a docket to comply with each day. Recalling her own years on a High Court bench and how such orders felt then, she said the Court would not replicate that pressure. The petitioner was given liberty to seek an earlier date himself.
With 40 of 120 witnesses examined and the appellant in custody since December 2018, the Delhi High Court granted bail in an NIA case, holding that a High Court must decide on the law as it stands even though the interplay between Article 21 and Section 43D(5) of the UAPA has been referred to a larger Bench.
The Supreme Court held that loss of case records cannot justify keeping a criminal investigation pending indefinitely, expressing concern over a nearly two-decade delay. Setting aside the Gujarat High Court’s order, it directed Gujarat Police to complete the investigation within six weeks to protect the right to a speedy trial.
