A criminal case dating back more than three decades has taken an unusual turn after the Supreme Court stepped in to take control of proceedings that had remained suspended for years in the Allahabad High Court.
The top court ordered that three criminal revision petitions pending before the High Court be transferred to the Supreme Court itself after noting that judgments in those matters had been reserved as far back as February 2020 but were never delivered. The prolonged silence effectively stalled the trial in a 1994 murder case connected to the revisions.
A Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta invoked Article 139A of the Constitution, a provision that allows the Supreme Court to transfer certain cases to itself in exceptional circumstances. The judges acknowledged that such power is rarely exercised in petitions filed under Article 32, but the circumstances in this matter demanded intervention.
According to the Bench, the unresolved revision petitions had become a major obstacle to justice. The High Court had heard the matters and reserved its verdict on February 5, 2020. Yet years passed with no judgment. Court records showed repeated listings and adjournments, with the cases last listed again in February 2026 without any decision.
The continuing stay in those petitions prevented the trial court from moving ahead, leaving criminal proceedings tied to an incident from May 1994 effectively frozen.
The Supreme Court observed that the issue now went beyond the interests of the parties involved. It raised broader concerns about how delays in delivering reserved judgments can undermine the criminal justice system and erode the constitutional guarantee of timely adjudication.
The judges noted that such prolonged inaction could cause irreversible prejudice, especially in serious criminal cases where delays themselves weaken the credibility of the process.
Invoking its constitutional authority, the Court directed that the three pending revision petitions be withdrawn from the Allahabad High Court and placed alongside the writ petition currently before the Supreme Court. The Registrar General of the High Court has been asked to send the case records within three weeks, after which the matters will be placed before the Chief Justice of India for further directions.
Background of the dispute
The case reached the Supreme Court through a petition filed by the legal heir of the victim, seeking enforcement of the constitutional rights to equality and life, including the right to a speedy trial.
The petitioner argued that the High Court’s failure to pronounce judgment after reserving it in 2020 had effectively stalled the criminal trial and prolonged the wait for justice.
The litigation traces back to a 1994 incident that led to the registration of offences under several provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including murder and attempt to murder, against nine accused persons. Another accused who had been absconding was later booked in 2004.
Years later, in 2008, the Uttar Pradesh government proposed withdrawing the prosecution against one of the accused. By 2012, an application was filed seeking permission to withdraw the case under the Code of Criminal Procedure. The proposal was later expanded to cover all accused persons.
When the request to withdraw charges was rejected, the accused challenged the decision through revision petitions before the Allahabad High Court. Those petitions were heard and orders reserved in 2020 — but the verdict never came, leaving the entire criminal process stuck in limbo.
Now, with the Supreme Court pulling the matter to itself, the decades-old case is set to move again after years of judicial standstill.
