In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court has directed all High Courts to fast-track trials in cases under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The apex court ordered the Chief Justices of all High Courts to review the status of pending trials under laws such as the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), where the burden of proof is placed on the accused.
A two-judge bench headed by Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice N Kotiswar Singh pronounced the verdict, following an appeal by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against bail granted to the accused in the 2010 derailment of the Jnaneswari Express in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district, which killed 148 passengers and 170 were injured.
Even as the Supreme Court observed that the Calcutta High Court should not have granted bail in the case, it declined to cancel it at this stage, noting that the trial has moved at a “glacial pace” for 15 years and that the accused have neither absconded nor misused bail since their release, Hindustan Times reported.
The Court pointed out that over 3,949 UAPA cases were pending trial and 4,794 pending investigation as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)’s Crimes in India 2023 report.
The Court also asked all High Court Chief Justices to check how many Special Courts and Special Public Prosecutors are in place for UAPA cases.
It said that cases pending for more than five years should be prioritised and tried on a day-to-day basis. It also asked High Courts to periodically seek reports from trial courts and take up administrative obstacles that hamper progress.
"A constitutional democracy does not legitimise burdens by simply declaring them; it must ensure that those burdened are meaningfully equipped to bear them, even those who are accused of the worst offences imaginable. If the State, in spite of all its might presumes guilt, then the same State must also, with the employment of all the resources at its command, create pathways through which the accused can reclaim their innocence," the Court said according to LiveLaw.
Justice Karol said that the UAPA’s reverse burden clause puts undertrials — particularly the poor and marginalised — at a severe disadvantage, as they are jailed with little access to evidence or legal help needed to challenge the presumption against them.
The Court said that delays are an unavoidable part of the Indian criminal system, but in UAPA matters, where the accused must disprove the charges, such delays take on a more troubling dimension.
“... Courts, bound by legislative intent and statutory language, ask for, even before the trial begins, the accused to be able to establish preliminarily, that they will be able to rebut the presumption against them. This doctrinal inversion becomes all the more pernicious on account of procedural delays and very liberty of a person becomes hostage to clogged dockets, overworked judges, a lax prosecution, repeated adjournments by members of the bar and much more,” the bench said.