The High Court of Karnataka has recommended to the State government to establish three more special courts to try the criminal cases under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act by pointing out that the only special court existing in Bengaluru city to try all such cases is overburdened as trial in eight to nine-year-old cases are still pending.
One special court each will have to be set up in Mysuru, Belagavi, and Kalaburagi revenue divisions within six months so that the constitutional rights of the accused, who are facing charges in the cases probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and are lodged in prisons, is not impacted due to inordinate delay in completion of trial, the High Court has said.
“It is high time for the State government to fulfil the scope and object of the UAP Act and ensure speedy trial and disposal by constituting/establishing three more special courts for trial of NIA cases,” the High Court observed.
A Division Bench, comprising Justice B. Veerappa and Justice Venkatesh Naik T., passed the order while rejecting the plea for bail made by Shoeb Ali and 40 accused persons allegedly involved the violent incidents that occurred in Hubballi on April 16, 2022. The incidents occurred during a protest against a provocative ‘WhatsApp status’ posted by a youth showing a morphed image of a saffron flag flying on a mosque.
During the hearing advocate for the accused pointed out that trial in cases registered under UAP Act got delayed as there was only one special court for all cases registered under this special law across the State.
31 NIA cases pending
Following this, the Bench secured the data of the cases, in which the NIA had filed charge sheets under the UAP Act, pending for trial before the special court in Bengaluru.
As per the data received from the special court, 31 such cases were pending for trial and the oldest case was of 2014. There were two cases each of 2015 and 2016, three cases each of 2017, 2018, and 2020, eight cases of 2021, five cases of 2022, and four cases of 2013. Apart from these 32 cases, there were 53 other criminal cases, assigned to this special court, pending for trial, the Bench noted.
“If the newly proposed special courts are not constituted/established, one special court in the entire State would be overburdened and will lead to inordinate delay in trial and disposal of NIA cases, which is against the constitutional mandate as contemplated under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India,” the Bench observed.
