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New Delhi, Nov 13 (IANS) The Supreme Court has expressed ‘surprise’ over an accused being kept in jail in Maharashtra for more than four years without framing charges, despite the charge sheet being filed in early 2022.
A bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Prashant Kumar Mishra said it was “really shocking” that the petitioner is behind bars while the trial has not even reached the stage of framing of charges.
A bench led by Justice Amanullah said, “Even after the petitioner has been behind bars for four years, charges have not been framed yet despite the charge sheet being filed on 13.01.2022. This is indeed shocking.”
When the apex court sought clarification, the Maharashtra government’s counsel claimed that the delay was due to non-appearance of other co-accused. However, a bench led by Justice Amanullah found this justification unacceptable.
The apex court said, “We are more than surprised by the said stand taken by the learned counsel for the respondent-State. This shows that the prosecution has not filed any application for cancellation of bail of the other co-accused, who are out on bail and against whom charges could not be framed, owing to their guilt.”
“Provisionally, we feel that there is collusion between the prosecution and the accused,” it said.
A bench led by Justice Amanullah directed the concerned Superintendent of Police to file an explanation as to why such a situation arose and why no steps were taken to ensure the progress of the case. It also ordered the trial court to submit a report explaining its failure to ensure the presence of co-accused who were out on bail. Both reports are to be submitted within three weeks.
The next hearing of the case will be on December 2, with the top court warning that “if the explanation is not satisfactory, the court may take a strict stance in the matter”.
This is the second time in recent weeks that the Supreme Court has expressed concern over the state of criminal trials in Maharashtra.
Earlier in October this year, a bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice N. The division bench of Justice Kotiswar Singh had described as “a very shocking situation” the fact that hundreds of cases across the state were pending for framing of charges for more than a decade – some since 2006. In that case too, the top court had directed the Registrar General of the Bombay High Court to submit a detailed report on the steps taken to ensure timely framing of charges and production of undertrial prisoners.
–IANS
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