To Pass Order On 60-Day BNSS Window
NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over delay in framing of charges which derail trial in criminal cases, Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to deal with the problem by passing pan-India guidelines for implementation of provision of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) which says that a court shall frame a charge against the accused within a period of 60 days from the date of first hearing.Taking note that many courts across the country take months and years in framing of charges, a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria said that the problem needed to be addressed and requested attorney general R Venkataramani to guide the court in the case and also appointed noted criminal lawyer Siddharth Luthra as amicus curiae to assist the court.BNSS, which replaced colonial era Criminal Procedure Code, sets specific timelines for criminal investigations and trials but it seems to remain only in the rule book and not being implemented on ground, resulting in trials getting delayed like earlier times.”Perusal of Section 251 BNSS, which governs framing of charges, read thus. Clause b of 251 indicates that where the matter is exclusively triable by the court, it should frame charges within 60 days of the first hearing on the charge. We have noticed, time and again, the charges are not being framed even after months and years after framing of chargesheet. This is one of the primary reasons for the trial getting delayed. Until and unless it is framed, trial will not commence. As such, this situation seems to be prevalent in most of the courts and we are of the considered opinion that certain directions need to be issued pan India in this regard,” the bench said.The court passed the order while hearing a bail plea of an accused from Bihar who had been in jail for the last one year. It was brought to court’s notice that charges in the case had not been framed in the last one year by the court. The bench decided that it was a fit case to intervene to address the problem of delay in framing of charge and expanded the ambit of the case.Earlier in this month, another bench of the apex court had earlier also flagged the issue of delay in framing of charge and had noted that charges had not been framed by trial court in Maharashtra despite chargesheets being filed years ago and trials had not commenced in at least 649 criminal cases.
