"Out Of The Box" Thinking Required To Unclog Jails: Supreme Court

Supreme Court said some "tokenism" can be done before independence day this year to send a signal that the government is looking into this aspect.

Some "out of the box" thinking is required to unclog jails and reduce the burden of criminal cases in courts, observed the Supreme Court on Friday while stressing that some steps should be taken by the authorities when the nation is celebrating 75 years of independence.

The top court said some "tokenism" can be done before independence day this year to send a signal that the government is looking into this aspect.

A bench of Justice S K Kaul and M M Sundresh, which was hearing matters relating to the pendency of appeals in criminal cases for a long, observed that clogging of trial courts by criminal cases is an important aspect.

The bench told Additional Solicitor General (ASG) K M Nataraj, who was appearing in the matter, that if something is done by the authorities this year in this regard then it would have a "very positive" effect.