Supreme Court calls out police for not enforcing laws on MPs and MLAs

Pointing out that a large number of cases were pending against sitting and former MPs and MLAs the Supreme Court on Tuesday said one of the reasons for the situation was that police did not at times enforce laws under pressure from the lawmakersThe observation was made by a bench comprising Justices NV Ramana Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose while hearing a PIL filed by BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay to seek speedy disposal of criminal cases pending against members of Parliament and members of the Legislative AssembliesThe bench also asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta representing the Centre that the Union government should take a call on the speedy disposal of these casesThe bench noted that the High Courts have also asked for videoconferencing facilities for the speedy disposal of pending cases The bench asked Mehta to take instructions from authorities concerned on the issue of financing in the matterIn response Mehta said that the funding for videoconference facility would not be an issue and suggested that the top court issue directions to the Director General of Police in each state to ensure timely summonsesThe bench after a brief hearing in the matter adjourned it for next week and noted that in the meanwhile the High Courts could send their recommendations and action plans to the officials concernedA report filed by Senior Advocate Vijay Hansaria in the apex court said that 4859 cases were pending against sitting and former lawmakers denoting a jump of over 400 cases since March when it was 4442Some High Courts have sought directions for the conduct of trials through videoconferences where the accusedwitnesses are in another districtstate without the requirement of physical presence of the accusedwitnesses said the reportThe report also gave a detailed breakup of cases pending against sitting and former lawmakers in all the states As many as 1374 cases are pending in Uttar Pradesh followed by 557 in BiharThe report said that all High Courts have favoured the establishment of safe and secure Witness Examination Rooms with videoconference facility but cited lack of infrastructure and nonavailability of funds for the purposeVideoconference rules have been framed by most High Courts whereas others are in the process of finalising the same the High Courts have recommended appointment of Nodal Prosecution Officer and Special Public Prosecutor for each of the courts and written to the state governments in this regard the report addedKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis 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