Order for speedy trial against MPs/ MLAs will not apply to criminal appeals pending in High Courts against conviction of lawmakers: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of India has clarified that its earlier order of September 2020 regarding speedy trial of cases against legislators will not apply to criminal appeals pending in High Courts against conviction of such MPs/ MLAs (Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v. Union of India)..The Bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant stated that such criminal appeals against legislators will be taken up as per their turn and need not be given out of turn hearing."We clarify that the order dated 16th September 2020 passed by this Court pertains to expeditious disposal of trials and it has no bearing on criminal appeals pending before High Courts against conviction of MPs/ExMPs or MLAs/ExMLAs. Such criminal appeals will be taken up as per their turn and need not be given an out of turn hearing on a misunderstanding of our order dated 16th September 2020," the order passed by the top court on August 25 said..However, the Court added that the convicted accused shall be at liberty to seek suspension of their sentence and release on regular bail and if any such application has been filed, the same shall be decided as per its own merits, in accordance with law.The Court was hearing a plea by BJP leader and Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking speedy trial in cases against MPs and MLAs by setting up of special courts.Amicus Curiae Vijay Hansaria had submitted a report to the Court containing details on the status of trials against legislators. He had also made various suggestions to ensure that such trials are concluded expeditiously.The Court after examining the report which was filed through advocate Sneha Kalita, noted that there are 121 cases pending trial before different CBI courts involving sitting MPs and ex MPs and 112 cases involving sitting MLAs and ex MLAs."Out of that, 37 cases are still at the investigation stage, the oldest being registered on 24th October 2013. The details of cases pending trial unveil that there are several cases in which the charge sheet was filed as far back as the year 2000, but are still pending either for appearance of accused, framing of charges or prosecution evidence," the order passed by the Court noted.The Court, therefore, directed that CBI should take necessary steps to secure appearance of the accused and provide necessary assistance to the CBI courts for framing charges and to proceed further to conclude the trials."We direct that each High Court shall take necessary steps to expedite the pending trials and conclude the same within the time frame already fixed by previous orders," the apex court further ordered.The Court also said that there is an urgent need to rationalize the establishment of special/ CBI Courts, as it may not be "humanly possible" for one or two courts in a State to expedite all the trials or take up the same on a day to day basis.The special/CBI courts need to be set up in different parts of the State where more than 100 cases are pending to ensure easy accessibility to the witnesses and decongestion of existing special/CBI courts, the Court added.Read more about hearing and the order passed by Supreme Court here..[Read Order].[Read Amicus Curiae report]