Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 – Trial prolonged on account of non-production of the appellantaccused – Appellant incarcerated for approximately five years – If entitled to bail:
Held: Yes – Prolonged incarceration without the accused being made to face the trial would result in forcing him to face the sentence without undergoing the trial – Right to speedy trial is also one of the facets of the rights flowing from Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India – Charges not framed in the cases registered prior to the registration of the present case – This is a very sorry state of affairs – If an accused is incarcerated for a period of approximately five years without even framing of charges, leave aside the right of speedy trial being affected, it would amount to imposing sentence without trial – Such a prolonged delay is also not in the interest of the rights of the victim – Impugned order quashed and set aside – Appellant granted bail, stringent conditions imposed – Constitution of India – Articles 21, 19. [Paras 10, 9, 11, 12] Directions by Supreme Court – Trials prolonged on the ground of non-production of the accused persons – Deprecated: Held: A mechanism to be evolved to ensure that the accused are produced before the Trial Judge either physically or virtually on every date and the trial is not permitted to be prolonged on the ground of non-production of the accused persons – Copy of this order to be forwarded to the Registrar General of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay; Secretary, Home, State of Maharashtra and Secretary, Law and Justice, State of Maharashtra. [Para 17]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Divya Pandey. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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