Supreme Court Steps Up to Fast-Track Justice for Lawmakers’ Cases

The Supreme Court has now been asked to speed up the trial process for nearly 5,000 criminal cases against current and former lawmakers. Senior lawyer Vijay Hansaria, who is helping the court, pointed out that these lawmakers can influence legal investigations, making it hard to close cases. Because of this, many cases have been stuck for a long time, which is not good for our democracy.

As of January 1, 2025, there are 4,732 cases waiting against lawmakers, including 892 new cases from just 2024. A group called the Association of Democratic Reforms reported that out of 543 members of the Lok Sabha (the lower house of Parliament), 251 have criminal charges. Out of these, 170 cases are serious, meaning they could lead to five years or more in jail.

Hansaria explained that a special court for lawmakers has many responsibilities, so cases against lawmakers often get delayed. Sometimes, the accused do not show up, and there are issues with getting witnesses to attend court on time. Also, the courts sometimes allow too many delays, even when the Supreme Court instructed them not to.

He added that it’s important for citizens to know how these cases are progressing since this is part of their right to information. He suggested that there should be better access on the high court’s website to see the status of these cases. He requested that special courts only handle lawmakers’ cases until they are finished, and then take up other cases.

Hansaria wants the courts to speed up trials for any cases that have been waiting longer than three years and to issue arrest orders if someone misses two court dates in a row. He also suggested dropping some cases against lawmakers that have been pending for over a year.

In a previous update, it was mentioned that in 2023, special courts solved more than 2,000 cases related to lawmakers. Recently, the Supreme Court decided to set up special benches in high courts to ensure these cases are handled more quickly and should not be postponed unless absolutely necessary.