NEW DELHI, Sep 1: In the backdrop of Supreme Court setting a deadline to complete trial in cases involving lawmakers, the Centre will soon write to state Governments to speed up cases against MPs and MLAs facing charges which attract disqualification.
The move also comes against the backdrop of a directive of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cleanse politics from tainted lawmakers.
“It is a priority commitment of the Narendra Modi Government that polity needs to be cleansed. Those against whom criminal cases are pending, that trial needs to be expedited. If they are clean, they will be acquitted. If they are not, law will take its own course,” Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by Prasad and top Home and Law Ministry officials besides Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi.
Prasad said cases against MPs and MLAs which attract disqualification under Section 8(1), 8(2) and 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act needed to be completed within one year of framing charges according to a March 10 direction of the Supreme Court.
Any sentence which attracts punishment of two years and above can lead to disqualification from Parliament or state legislature.
“The Government is going to follow up the direction of the Supreme Court in a substantial way whereby the Home Minister shall be writing to all chief ministers of the states and I will be writing to all law ministers of the states to ensure mandatory compliance of this provision,” Prasad said.
He said this will be a big step in cleansing the politics of the country.
Highly-placed sources said the Attorney General is likely to inform the apex court about the Government decision to write to the states to expedite the cases involving law makers.
In its March 10 directive, the Supreme Court had set a deadline for lower courts to complete trial in cases involving lawmakers within a year of framing of charges.
The apex court had also said that trial courts will have to give explanation to the chief justice of the respective high court if the trial is not completed within a year.
It said all such proceedings involving lawmakers must be conducted on a day-to-day basis in order to expedite the trial.
As the trial is kept pending for years, lawmakers continue to enjoy membership of the legislative body despite being charged in a heinous offence, the court noted.
The court passed the order on a PIL filed by NGO Public Interest Foundation seeking its direction for expeditious trial in cases involving lawmakers.
The NGO contended that MPs and MLAs continue to be members of Parliament and assemblies for a long time due to delay in proceedings.
Prime Minister Modi had on July 24 asked the Home Minister and Law Minister to work out a mechanism to settle criminal and other court cases against politicians within a year.
The directive is in line with Modi’s commitment during his election campaign that he will endeavour to see that court cases against politicians are decided within one year. If they are guilty, they should be punished, if not they should be discharged, he had said.
During the poll campaign, he had vowed to pursue a zero-tolerance policy on graft if he came to power.
Prasad said the Government will send a fresh directive to all states asking them to release on personal bond all undertrials who have completed 50 per cent of the term under charges they have been accused of.
Prasad said the move has been taken to decongest jails of “faceless” undertrails who languish awaiting completion of trials.
He said there is a provision under Section 436 (A) of the CrPC to free such undertrials under bond.
When reminded that similar directives had been issued in the past too, the Law Minister said this is for the first time the new NDA Government was writing to the states on the issue as judicial reforms are a priority area for the Modi Government.
Highlighting the issue of undertrials, he said this was something that was of utmost concern to the Government.
“This is not only a human rights issue for those who are lodged behind bars, but also a matter of great concern for our judicial system,” he said.
Prasad said 66 per cent of the prison population today comprises undertrials.
Pointing out that the law was amended to facilitate release of prisoners who had served at least half the maximum period of imprisonment specified for that crime, he said implementation must however be undertaken urgently and there was a need to employ technology and ICT methods to address this problem.
“The Centre has already started this process. The National Informatics Centre has created software for prisons with a goal of developing a database of prison inmates – with a focus on undertrial prisoners,” he said. (PTI)
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