New Delhi: The Supreme Court has expressed concern over the unusual delay by the Allahabad High Court in disposing of a 40-year-old criminal appeal filed by a murder accused challenging his conviction.
A division day bench comprising Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and A S Chandorkar, on Monday, termed the situation alarming and asked what innovative measures could be adopted to address the growing attachment that continues to hamper the justice delivery system of the Allahabad High Court.
The case concerns Vijay Singh, who was 28 years old when he was arrested in November 1983 for shooting and killing his brother.
The Kanpur Sessions Court convicted him of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment in December 1985.
Singh appealed the ruling in the Allahabad High Court. However, his appeal remained pending for nearly 41 years before the Supreme Court rejected it in a 20-page ruling issued on February 9 this year.
During the hearing, the Supreme Court noted that Singh spent only about three months in custody and remained on bail for almost 43 years awaiting the outcome of his appeal.
The court decided to continue his bail while the proceedings before it continued.
The bench expressed concern over the recurrence of the issue of prolonged delay in the Allahabad High Court and observed that litigants often approach the apex court seeking directions for expedited hearings due to intense wait.
Justice Mishra sought suggestions from senior advocate Siddharth Dave and advocate Zoheb Hussain on possible measures to speed up disposal of old cases. Dave suggested that prosecution appeals that have been pending for more than three decades should be dismissed to reduce the case backlog.
However, the court rejected this idea, noting that the basic principles of adjudicating cases do not allow cases to be rejected simply because they have been waited long.
The court warned that such an approach could negatively affect the public interest and deprive the parties of the opportunity to present their case.
In his appeal to the Supreme Court, Singh highlighted the long delay, noting that he is now 72 years old and has spent his youth, middle age and old age under a criminal conviction.
“For more than four decades, through youth, middle age and now old age, he has lived with that conviction,” the petition said, adding that his criminal appeal languished before the Supreme Court for 40 years before it was finally heard and dismissed.
This article was generated from an automated news feed without any modifications to the text.
