PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court on Saturday held that if the prosecution is not interested in presenting witnesses and completing the trial, a person cannot be kept in jail indefinitely.
Expressing displeasure over the prosecution not presenting witnesses and evidence on time even in serious crimes, the bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh sought a personal affidavit from the Uttar Pradesh director general of police (DGP) asking him to apprise the court why the prosecution does not present witnesses on time in serious crimes.
The court also asked the DGP about the steps taken by him as the head of the police department to address the issue. The court also asked the DGP if he had fixed responsibility of the guilty police officer or person in any case.
While hearing the bail plea of a person, Manoj, of Etah, the court also sought a report from the presiding officer concerned and asked him to give information about the process followed so far during the trial. The court asked why the trial could not be completed and who was responsible for it.
The petitioner approached the high court after his three bail applications were rejected. The petitioner’s lawyer said that it was his fourth bail application.
He said the petitioner had been in jail since 2017 and in the last seven and a half years, the prosecution had presented only three witnesses. “There is no hope of completing the trial in the case in near future. Which is a violation of the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court,” he added.
The court observed that it was constantly being seen that even in serious cases, the prosecution was not presenting witnesses on time due to which the trial of many cases remained pending.
“If the prosecution is not interested in presenting witnesses and completing the trial, then a person cannot be kept in jail indefinitely,” the court said.
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