Overview
- A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N. V. Anjaria said delays in framing charges are widespread and signaled it will issue pan-India directions.
- The Court appointed Senior Advocates Siddharth Luthra and S. Nagamuthu as amici curiae and sought inputs from Attorney General R. Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
- Citing Section 251(b) of the BNSS, the bench noted sessions cases require charges to be framed within 60 days of the first hearing and linked non-compliance to trial stagnation.
- The trigger case involves Aman Kumar, in custody since August 2024, where a chargesheet was filed in September 2024 but charges remain unframed after lower courts denied bail.
- Referring to earlier data from Maharashtra listing at least 649 such cases, the Court indicated it may not wait for district-level reports and will consider issuing immediate nationwide directions, with the matter relisted in two weeks.