On Monday, the Supreme Court expressed surprise over a directive from the Patna High Court, which had mandated a one-year deadline for a trial court in Bihar to complete proceedings in a criminal case involving Santosh Kumar @ Santosh v. State of Bihar.
Justices Abhay S. Oka and Augustine George Masih, who were part of the Division Bench, noted that such an order was issued without considering the significant backlog faced by trial courts. The Supreme Court's order on July 22 criticized the High Court for not taking into account the extensive case pendency in Bihar's courts.
The Supreme Court highlighted that the High Court’s directive contradicted its previous ruling in High Court Bar Association, Allahabad vs. State of Uttar Pradesh and Others (2024), which established that constitutional courts should refrain from imposing specific timelines on other courts for case resolutions.
This issue arose from an appeal challenging the Patna High Court’s February 2024 decision to deny bail to a man charged with cheating in 2023. While rejecting the bail application, the High Court also ordered that the trial be concluded within a year and permitted the accused to reapply for bail if the trial was not completed by that time.
Dissatisfied with the High Court's decision, the accused appealed to the Supreme Court. Considering the trial's potential length and the fact that the accused had been in custody since August 2023, the Supreme Court decided to grant bail. It noted that the accused had previously been granted bail in other cases cited as criminal history against him.
The Supreme Court’s order mandated that the accused be presented before the Trial Court within a week, where the Trial Court was to grant bail on appropriate terms while the trial continued.
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TAGS: Supreme Court Patna High Court trial deadline criminal case bail plea case pendency Justice Abhay S. Oka Justice Augustine George Masih Santosh Kumar Bihar High Court Bar Association ruling constitutional courts trial court criminal antecedents.
