New Delhi: An inadvertent delay in producing an accused before the trail court from the lock up cannot be termed as state's lack of seriousness in conducting the trial,
a Delhi court has said.
Additional Sessions Judge Bimla Kumari made the observation while setting aside a magisterial court's notice to the public prosecutor and the Tihar jail superintendent
seeking their explanation in delay in producing a theft case accused accused before it on April 29, 2011.
The judge said as the accused was in judicial custody and had been brought to the lock-up room from the jail, the jail superintendent was not at fault and also "it cannot be said that the prosecution was not serious in conducting the trial
of the accused".
The magisterial court had issued notices after the accused could not be produced before it from the lock-up room of Tis Hazari court premises, while the prosecution witness and the complainant kept waiting.
The court had issued notices to the jail superintendent observing it has become a routine that the lock-up in-charge does not produce the accused in time. It issued notice to the prosecutor wondering "whether the prosecution is serious in
conducting the trial of the cases".
The judge, however, set aside the magisterial court's order saying, "It is worth noting that now-a-days, the jails as well as well as lock-ups are overcrowded. It is further worth noting that lock-up in-charge produces the accused on the basis of strength of police officials, who are deputed in this regard by the government."
She added that if there was any delay in the opinion of the trial court, it could have issued notice to the lock-up in-charge.
PTI
First Published: Monday, January 09, 2012, 17:34