'Chop Off The Deadwood': High Court Quashes 1991 Vidhan Sabha Ruckus Case; Urges UP Govt To Frame Policy For Stale Litigations

The Court termed such stale trials a 'futile' exercise and called upon the State Government to "chop off the deadwood" of stale/futile litigations pending in various Courts across the state.

A bench of Justice Pankaj Bhatia thus allowed the applications filed u/s 482 CrPC by two persons accused of creating a ruckus at Gate No. 1 of the Vidhan Sabha in 1991 and of attempting to force their way inside and also damaging the windshields and lights of parked vehicles.

The Court specifically noted that the FIR, chargesheet, as well as the material on record, could not suggest the use of violence by an unlawful assembly in prosecution of a common object of such assembly or assault or use of criminal force to deter the public servant from discharge of his duty.

Hence, it found no grounds to sustain the charges under Section 147 [Punishment for rioting] and Section 353 IPC [Wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot].

Regarding the charge under Section 452 IPC [House-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint], the bench noted that Vidhan Sabha Parisar is not a human dwelling and that no material was there to indicate that preparations for causing hurt or assault or to wrongfully restraining any person were made.

Similarly, the Charge under Section 427 IPC [Mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees] was also not made out, the Court noted.

Apart from the same, the bench was of the view that the delay in trial was adversely affecting the rights of a speedy trial vested by virtue of Art. 21 of the Constitution and on that ground also, it said, the proceedings are liable to be quashed.

Notably, in this case, as the HC noted, despite cognizance being taken over 30 years ago, not a single witness had been examined. In some instances, accused persons had died and warrants had been issued repeatedly without success.

Taking note of the same, Justice Bhatia remarked thus:

"The entire litigation is a futile exercise...neither the witnesses are present and in some cases, even the accused have died, and thus, the entire exercise is also a drain on the precious resources of the State."

During the proceedings, the State Counsel informed the Court that, in compliance with earlier directives, the State Government has constituted a three-member committee, headed by the Additional Advocate General, to formulate a "case management policy" to identify and withdraw stale or futile litigations, similar to policies in other states.

Taking note of the same, Justice Bhatia observed thus:

"It is common knowledge that the judiciary is starved of the resources to meet the growing explosion of litigations…continuation of these futile litigations is adding the otherwise burden on the judiciary".

Thus, allowing the applications, the Court expressed hope that the committee would soon provide effective solutions to weed out such cases.

"As the objective of the committee is very laudable, it is expected that the committee constituted by the State would come up with effective solution to weed out the futile litigations pending across the State so that the efficiency with which the judiciary should function is restored and the deadwood is chiseled off from the overgrowing dockets of the District Courts", the order stated.

Consequently, the entire proceedings of the Case pending before the District Court in Lucknow were quashed.