This Article is From Sep 01, 2014

Fast-Tracking Cases for Lawmakers With Criminal Charges

Fast-Tracking Cases for Lawmakers With Criminal Charges

The Supreme Court in a judgment last March ordered that trial in all cases against lawmakers must be completed within a year. (File pic)

New Delhi: States across India will soon hear from two heavyweights of the Modi Cabinet - Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad - asking them to expedite cases against serving MLAs and MPs. The cabinet ministers will also ask state governments to release prisoners who are still awaiting trial but have served half of the prison term that they would be sentenced to if they were to be found guilty.

The Supreme Court in a judgment last March ordered that trial in all cases against national and state lawmakers must be completed within a year. The court had asked the government to ensure fast-track daily hearings for these cases.

There are  at least 60 MPs in both houses of the Parliament who face criminal charges.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi had vowed in his election campaign to focus on a cleaner-politics initiative.
 
"Apart from the legal requirements, if cases against people's representatives are processed quickly, those innocent can continue working for the people while those found guilty will be disqualified," Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told NDTV. The Supreme Court ruled in July last year that law-makers must be evicted from Parliament as soon as they are convicted of criminal charges which carry a sentence of two years or more.

The Law Minister said that another major initiative will be to ensure the release of prisoners whose trials have been massively delayed.   "Over 66 per cent of the prison population across the country is made up of such under trials," the minister said. The relief will apply to those who do not face a life or death sentence if convicted

The Modi government, which has completed a little over three months in office, hopes that these measures will help it project itself as an administration committed to reforms. But in reality, there is little that New Delhi can do except write to states seeking their cooperation. Policing, law and order and prisons are a State subject - which means that states led by opposition parties may choose to ignore the Centre's request.
 
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