Supreme Court gives High Courts 2 months to correct errors in criminal trial system

There is no info about implementation of draft rules from seven HCs, Bench told

The Supreme Court on Thursday gave High Courts two months to repair inadequacies and inefficiencies in the criminal trial system of their respective States.

A Bench led by Justice L. Nageswara Rao was informed by its amici curiae, senior advocates R. Basant, Sidharth Luthra and advocate K. Parameshwar that while most of the High Courts have responded positively to the Draft Rules of Criminal Practice, 2020 — a set of recommendations prepared by the three lawyers to streamline criminal trial system and make it uniform across the country — there is no information about implementation from seven High Courts. These include Madras, Gujarat, Bombay and Rajasthan.

On Thursday, the apex court extended the time by eight weeks for these States and High Courts to notify and implement the suggestions.

The Supreme Court had in April 2020 given States and their High Courts six months to incorporate the recommendations in their police manuals and criminal trial processes.

The Draft Rules had gone into the intricacies of investigation and trial, including proposals to employ separate teams of lawyers to help the police during the probe and for the trial; details to be covered while drafting spot panchnamas and even corrections in body sketches.

More importantly, the amici curiae had suggested communicating a bail order to the jail authorities on the very same day.