Convict him or acquit him," an anguished Supreme Court observed on non-framing of charges on an accused jailed for 11 years over serial blasts in multiple Rajdhani Express andother trains in 1993.
Underlining the right to speedy trial, the top court sought areport from the special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention)Act court judge in Ajmer explaining why charges have not been framed against Hameer Ui Uddin.
"The Special Judge, Designated Court, Ajmer, Rajasthan is directedto submit a report to this Court within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order…The reportshall clarify why charges have not been framed," a bench of justicesDY Chandrachud and M R Shah said.
In its order passed recently, the bench said that to facilitate the submission of the report expeditiously, the registrar (judicial)will communicate a copy of the order to the judge directly as wellas through the Registrar (Judicial) of the High Court of Rajasthan. During the hearing, advocate Shoeb Alam, appearing for Hameer UiUddin said the petitioner has been in custody since 2010 but charges have not been framed and trial is yet to commence.
He said that detaining an accused indefinitely without trial is a gross abuse of rights of an individual under Article 21.
