Custodial killings ‘worst kind of crime’: Jharkhand High Court raps state government; fresh probe ordered in over 260 cases
Mains Examination: General Studies-II: Structure, organisation and functioning of the Executive and the JudiciaryWhat’s the ongoing story: Addressing concerns over undue delay in pronouncement of judgments reserved by judges, the Supreme Court issued directions Friday to all high courts to pronounce verdicts within three months of hearing the case and to “display extra promptitude” in cases of personal liberty and bail. — What are the reasons for delay in pronouncing judgements reserved by judges? — What are reserved judgements? — What is the status of India’s judiciary system? — What are the reasons for the pendency of cases? — What are the main areas that need immediate attention? — Suggest steps that can be taken to reduce pendency of cases. — What are the recent measures adopted by the judiciary to decrease the pendency of cases?Story continues below this ad — Understand the integrated judiciary system of India and how is it different from America and India. — What are the different types of bail? — What are the issues concerning undertrials? Key Takeaways: — A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said the directions were intended to strengthen the judicial administration and ensure timely delivery of judgments. — Among the key directions, the Supreme Court said that bail applications should be heard and the order should preferably be pronounced and uploaded the same day. If it is reserved, it should be pronounced the next day and uploaded on the website. — The Supreme Court also called for reasoned judgments pronounced in open courts to be uploaded on the High Court website within 24 hours.Story continues below this ad — The directions came on a petition filed by four convicts serving life sentences whose criminal appeals had been reserved by the Jharkhand High Court in 2022 but the verdicts were pronounced three years later. While deciding their plea, the Supreme Court chose to address what it described as a wider institutional issue affecting courts across the country. — The Court said that orders in cases seeking bail or suspension of sentence should be communicated to the jail authorities as soon as it is pronounced, and that the undertrial or convict must be released, preferably the same day or at most the next day. — The bench also said that at the end of every month, an automated list of reserved judgments that remain pending must be generated and placed before the Chief Justice of the High Court, with a copy to the bench concerned. — If a judgment is not delivered in three months of reserving the order, the Registrar General must place the matter before the Chief Justice, who is then required to bring the delay to the notice of the bench concerned within two weeks, the top court said.Story continues below this ad — A similar string of directions, aimed at improving access to justice were issued in a 2001 case, Anil Rai v. State of Bihar, in which the Supreme Court noted that delivering judgments long after arguments had concluded could affect public confidence in the judicial process. Do You Know: — Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), Indian criminal statutory law, Section 2(1)(b), “bail” means release of a person accused of or suspected of commission of an offence from the custody of law upon certain conditions imposed by an officer or Court on execution by such person of a bond or a bail bond. — According to the fourth edition of the India Justice Report (IJR) 2025, in judiciary there is a 20 per cent increase in pending cases, crossing the five-crore mark; shortages in court halls; vacancies in the high courts and district courts that stand at 33 per cent and 21 per cent respectively. — There is also an increase in the average workload in district courts – 2,200 cases per judge, while case clearance rate is at 94 per cent. This leads to a slower pace of justice and erodes public confidence in the justice system.Story continues below this ad — In prisons, overcrow
