The Supreme Court said on Monday that adjournments during judicial proceedings, which compel witnesses to visit courts repeatedly to record their statements, is "hard reality" and things will move smoothly if the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) are followed properly.
A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta observed this while hearing a matter related to deficiencies in jails as highlighted by two apex court judges, one of whom has retired, during their visit to Faridabad jail and an observation home in June this year.
"Witnesses are fed up of coming to the court. This is the hard reality on the ground," Justice Gupta observed, adding that "if we follow the CrPC, everything will go on smoothly but the practice on the ground are different".
During the hearing, Attorney General K K Venugopal told the bench that as per the court's order, a committee under the chairmanship of retired apex court judge Justice Amitava Roy has been constituted to look into the issues related to jail reforms in the country.
Advocate Gaurav Agarwal, assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the matter, said that 14 points were highlighted by the judges who had visited the Faridabad jail and observation home and some of these issues related to prisons could be referred to the newly appointed committee.
When he referred to one of the issues about non-examination of witnesses in the trial courts, the bench observed, "If the witnesses are not examined, how can we pass a judicial order?".
The two judges -- Justice (retd) A K Goel and Justice U U Lalit -- who had visited the jail had noted that, "In spite of directions of this court, we found instances of witnesses not being examined by the court on the ground of non-availability of time. Adjournments requiring witnesses to repeatedly come to the Court is against the policy of law. There is, thus, need for strict monitoring to ensure that no witness is returned unexamined."
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