The Supreme Court has asked all States to respond to a PIl on framing of guidelines to ensure investigation and trial of cases relating to influential public functionaries are fast-tracked.
A bench of Justices AK Patnaik and V Gopala Gowda thought it fit to call for responses from individual States as the law Commission had already submitted a report to the Supreme Court demanding fast-tracking trials involving influential persons.
The PIl, filed in 2004 by lawyer V K Ohri will now be taken up for hearing in January next year. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for Ohri, gave suggestions based on law Commission’s recommendations. He said that influential persons, who have committed gruesome crimes, often go scot free due to the delay in investigation and trial which they manipulate by virtue of their influence. The investigation of all criminal cases involving influential persons should be monitored by the DGP (head of the police) of the state/UT.