Allahabad High Court has asked district judges and police chiefs across Uttar Pradesh to work together to ensure that the backlog of over six lakh criminal cases where the accused "were absconding (or) not appearing before courts" for more than three months were "wiped out".
A bench of Justices Amar Saran and Dinesh Gupta also asked the state DGP, Principal Secretary (Home) and district judges to "send feedback to the HC registry by the 7th of each month" regarding the extent to which the above directions were being followed.
In a May 24 order, the court had asked the officials concerned to "ensure the appearance of charge-sheeted accused within three months" who had failed to present themselves for hearings in courts across UP.
The court noted there were 6.20 lakh cases across UP in which the accused had not appeared before the trial court despite submission of a charge-sheet.
Fixing Aug. 30 as the next date of hearing in the matter, HC sought "further feedback and compliance affidavits" on behalf of the Principal Secretary (Home) and the DGP and ordered "senior officials capable of taking decisions and responding to the court's queries" to remain present on that date.
