Over 2,000 criminal cases against MPs, MLAs decided in 2023: SC told

Special courts for trial of criminal cases related to Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly decided more than 2000 cases in 2023 the Supreme Court has been informedIn an affidavit filed by senior advocate Vijay Hansaria who has been appointed amicus curiae in a PIL seeking expeditious disposal of criminal cases against MPsMLAs said that more directions are needed for speedy adjudication of pending trials and their investigation under strict monitoring by the respective high courts as there are around 501 candidates with criminal cases who are contesting the Lok Sabha elections in the first two phasesReferring to a report of NGO Association of Democratic Reforms for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 Phase I and Phase II Hansaria assisted by advocate Sneha Kalita said that out of 2810 candidates Phase I 1618 candidates and Phase II 1192 candidates 501 18 per cent candidates have criminal cases against them out of which 327 12 per cent are serious criminal cases punishable with imprisonment of 5 years and moreThe same was the position in 2019 Lok Sabha elections in which out of 7928 candidates 1500 candidates 1937 had criminal cases out of which 1070 candidates 1337 were serious criminal cases However out of 514 elected members of 17th Lok Sabha 20192024 225 members 4437 had criminal cases against themThus the candidates with criminal cases have won more seats than candidates without criminal cases In this context it is necessary that this court may pass further orders for expeditious disposal of pending trials and investigation under strict monitoring by the respective high courts the affidavit saidHansaria who is assisting the court in the PIL filed by Ashwini Upadhyay for speedy disposal of cases against the lawmakers said It may be noted that in view of the direction issued by this court in the present proceedings the steps taken by the respective high courts and expeditious hearing by the special court MPMLA more than 2000 cases have been decided in the year 2023 However a large number of cases are pending and many of them are for a long periodHe gave a tabular chart based on the information received from different high courts under which as of January 1 2023 there were 4697 criminal cases against the lawmakers and 2018 cases were decided last yearThe affidavit said 1746 fresh criminal cases were filed in 2023 against the MPsMLAs and therefore a total of 4474 cases remain pending as on January 1 2024The maximum 766 cases out of 1300 as of January 1 2023 were adjudicated by the special courts in Uttar Pradesh Delhi which had 105 cases at the start of last year disposed of 103 cases by December 31 2023Some of the big states like Maharashtra decided 232 cases out of 476 cases against MPsMLAs as on January 1 2023 West Bengal 13 out of 26 Gujarat 30 out of 48 Karnataka 150 out of 226 Kerala 132 out of 370 and Bihar decided 171 cases out of 525 casesHansaria said though a number of cases are decided a large number of cases are still pending trial for a long periodIt is thus necessary that the High Court may call for a report from the presiding officers of the Special Court MPMLA of all those cases which are pending for 3 or more years with reason for long pendency along with a copy of the order sheet of last one yearIt may be clarified that only a copy of the order sheet is to be sent and not the entire case file so that the trial is not affected The High Court may thereafter pass appropriate orders on micro examination of each case with a positive direction that a trial may be completed within one year he saidHe sought direction from the apex court for creating a model website on the pattern of the National Judicial Data Grid for uploading realtime information on the progress of the trial of cases against lawmakers For this purpose this court may constitute a committee under the chairmanship of a sitting Judge of this court The committee may comprise of Chief Justice Judges of some of the high courts a member of eCommittee a nominee National Informatics Centre NIC and such other persons as this court may think appropriate the affidavit saidOn micro monitoring of cases pending for more than three years Hansaria said that the high courts Allahabad Delhi Punjab amp Haryana Telangana and Tripura have monitored the progress of the trial of the cases by passing effective detailed orders while other high courts have only sought information of the pending casesThis court may consider passing appropriate directions so that the high courts in the Suo Motu writ petitions registered in terms of the judgment and order dated November 9 2023 to closely monitor the progress and pass suitable directions wherever necessary the affidavit saidOn November 9 last year in a significant verdict aimed at fasttracking trials in more than 5000 criminal cases against lawmakers the top court directed high courts to set up a special bench to monitor cases for their speedy disposalIt had also asked special courts not to adjourn proceedings in such matters except for rare and compelling reasonsIssuing a slew of directions to high courts district judges and special courts designated to hear matters related to lawmakers the top court had directed that criminal cases against members of Parliament legislative assemblies and legislative councils be given priorityThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever