The Supreme Court has quashed a criminal case pending trial in Prayagraj since 1991, stressing that quick justice is essential under Article 21 of the Constitution.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and Ujjal Bhuyan delivered the April 29 order while hearing an appeal by Kailash Chandra Kapri. He was a 22-year-old constable with the Uttar Pradesh police when the FIR was registered in 1989 over a minor fight among officers in a police mess.
The case, involving charges under the IPC and Railways Act, had dragged on for decades. Two of the five accused have since died, two others were acquitted in 2023, and Kapri, now 59 and a head constable in Uttarakhand, faced ongoing proceedings despite his transfer after state bifurcation in 2000.
The court noted the trivial nature of the dispute and the lack of progress in the trial. It observed that courts often ignore its repeated guidelines on speedy trials due to a lack of accountability.
While ending the prosecution against Kapri, the bench kept the matter open to seek data from the Allahabad High Court on pending cases and undertrials.
