More than 4,000 criminal cases involving sitting and former MPs and MLAs are pending trial across India, with hundreds remaining unresolved for years, the Supreme Court has been informed.
According to the 22nd report submitted by senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, who is assisting the Supreme Court as amicus curiae in a PIL seeking the speedy disposal of criminal cases against lawmakers, 4,192 cases are currently pending trial across the country. Of these, 519 cases have remained pending for more than 10 years, highlighting the prolonged delays in proceedings involving elected representatives.
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The report also pointed to delays at the investigation stage. Around 700 cases are still under investigation, while 360 cases have remained pending for more than three years without a chargesheet being filed.
Hansaria noted that the figure of 4,192 was compiled from information received from various high courts and data available on their official websites. The Allahabad High Court did not submit a separate report, and its figure of 1,171 pending cases, available on its website as of February 2024, was taken into account. Overall, high court websites show 4,442 pending cases.
14 Chief Ministers Face Pending Criminal Trials
The report also highlighted criminal cases pending against serving chief ministers. It said that 14 of the 28 states have chief ministers facing criminal cases that are pending trial.
Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has the highest number, with 89 pending cases, followed by West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who has 29.
Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu have 19 cases each, while Kerala Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan has 18 pending cases.
Uttar Pradesh Records Highest Pendency
The duration of the pending cases also varies significantly. Of the 4,192 cases, 754 have been pending for five to 10 years, while 562 cases have remained unresolved for three to five years. Another 1,095 cases are less than three years old.
Among states and high courts reporting the highest number of pending cases, Uttar Pradesh leads with 1,171 cases, followed by Kerala with 543, Bihar with 373, Maharashtra with 364 and Odisha with 330, according to the report.
Recommendations for Faster Trials
To tackle the backlog, Hansaria has recommended that designated courts exclusively handle cases involving lawmakers until the existing backlog is cleared.
He further suggested that cases pending for more than three years should be taken up on a day-to-day basis. The report also recommends that courts issue non-bailable warrants when an accused lawmaker fails to appear on two consecutive hearing dates.
Other recommendations include appointing a nodal prosecution officer to facilitate the securing of witnesses and introducing real-time uploading of case information and order sheets on high court websites.
The recommendations are aimed at ensuring that criminal proceedings involving elected representatives are not delayed indefinitely and that cases against lawmakers are brought to conclusion within a reasonable timeframe.
(Inputs from THE WIRE)
Edited by: Moonmoon Borah
