Supreme Court directs all High Courts to submit reports on pending cases with reserved judgments as of 31-01-2025

Supreme Court: In a writ petition filed by four convicts seeking a direction to the Jharkhand High Court for the pronouncement of judgments in their Criminal Appeals, which, according to the petitioners, had been finally heard by a Division Bench of the High Court, the Division Bench comprising Surya Kant and Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh, JJ., after reviewing the Report sent by the Registrar General of the Jharkhand High Court, deemed it appropriate to seek similar Reports from all High Courts.

Consequently, the Court directed the Registrar General of all High Courts to submit a Report regarding cases where judgments had been reserved on or before 31-01-2025, but the pronouncement of judgments was still awaited.

The four convicts had been convicted by the Trial Courts under Section 302 of the Penal Code, 1860 (‘IPC’) and other related offences. Three of them had been sentenced to life imprisonment on 12-06-2012, 04-08-2014, and 25-03-2014, respectively, while the fourth convict had been convicted under Sections 376 and 346 IPC and sentenced to life imprisonment on 06-09-2018. All four convicts had filed Criminal Appeals before the High Court.

The Court had noted that, by order dated 23-04-2025, while issuing notices in the applications for bail, it had directed the Registrar General of the High Court to file a Status Report in a sealed cover concerning all judgments that had been reserved for more than two months.

Upon reviewing the Status Report, the Court had observed that there were 56 pending matters, including certain Criminal Appeals, in which a Division Bench of the High Court had heard the cases on various dates between 04-01-2022 and 16-12-2024. However, the final pronouncements were still awaited. Additionally, there were 11 Single Bench matters before another Judge, with judgments reserved on dates ranging from 25-07-2024 to 27-09-2024.

However, the Court had noted that the list of 56 matters sent by the Registrar General of the Jharkhand High Court did not include the Criminal Appeals filed by the present convicts. The Report had been opened in Court and perused. For the time being, the Report was ordered to be kept in a sealed cover.

The Court observed that ‘The Indian Express’, a daily newspaper, had reported under the headline, “After SC rap, HC decides 75 criminal appeals in a week,” that the Jharkhand High Court had decided 75 Criminal Appeals in a week following the direction issued by this Court in its order dated 23-04-2025. The news item, published in The Indian Express on 05-05-2025, was ordered to be kept on record.

The Court directed the following actions:

(i) The Registrar General of the High Court was instructed to furnish a list of the 75 Criminal Appeals in which judgments had been pronounced by the High Court. The list was to indicate the dates when the judgments had been reserved, along with soft copies of the judgments that had been pronounced.

(ii) The Court also sought information regarding the status of the Criminal Appeals filed by the convicts in the present case.

The Court, after perusing the Report sent by the Registrar General of the Jharkhand High Court, deemed it appropriate to seek similar Reports from all the High Courts. Consequently, the Court directed the Registrar General of all High Courts to submit a Report regarding cases where judgments had been reserved on or before 31-01-2025, but the pronouncement of judgments was still awaited.

The Report was to contain separate sections for Criminal Appeals and Civil Matters, with further specifications indicating whether the matter was before a Division Bench or a Single Bench. Additionally, the composition of the Benches handling the matters was to be disclosed. The Registrar General of the High Courts was directed to furnish the requisite information within four weeks.

The Court directed that a copy of this order be sent to the Registrar General of all the High Courts for information and necessary compliance.

The main case was listed for hearing on 21-07-2025. However, the prayer for granting bail to the convicts was scheduled to be considered on 13-05-2025.

Meanwhile, the Court requested the Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority to take immediate necessary steps to provide legal assistance, in accordance with the decision taken by the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee, and ensure that convicts like the present convicts are not left remediless.

The Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority was also directed to ensure that appropriate proceedings were initiated in all 10 matters, the details of which had been separately provided to the Secretary of the Supreme Court Legal Services Authority. These proceedings were to aim at seeking suspension of the sentences and, consequently, the release of the convicts on bail during the pendency of their appeals.

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