Supreme Court issues directions to streamline criminal trials

In a bid to streamline criminal trials, the Supreme Court issued a slew of directions to trial courts on Monday to enhance the legibility of verdicts in criminal matters. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said all trial courts dealing with criminal matters shall, at the conclusion of the judgment, incorporate tabulated charts summarising the details of the witnesses examined, documents exhibited and material objects produced and exhibited.

The court said these charts shall form an appendix or the concluding segment of the judgment and shall be prepared in a clear, structured and easily comprehensible format.

“We are of the considered view that a more structured and uniform practice must be adopted to enhance the legibility of criminal judgments. Accordingly, to ensure a systematic presentation of evidence that enables efficient appreciation of the record, we issue the following directions to all trial courts across the country.

“These directions aim to institutionalise a standardised format for cataloguing witnesses, documentary evidence and material objects. This will serve to facilitate better comprehension and immediate reference for all stakeholders, including the appellate courts,” the bench said.

The apex court said each criminal judgment shall contain a witness chart with serial numbers, names of the witnesses, a brief description of the informant, eyewitnesses, the doctor, etc.

“The description should be succinct but sufficient to indicate the evidentiary character of the witness. This structured presentation will allow quick reference to the nature of testimony, assist in locating the witness in the record and minimise ambiguity,” the court said.

It added that a separate chart shall be prepared for all documents exhibited during the trial and it shall include the exhibit numbers, a description of the documents and the witnesses who proved or attested the documents.

“In complex cases, such as conspiracies, economic offences or trials involving voluminous oral or documentary evidence, the list of witnesses and exhibits may be substantially long.

“Where the number of witnesses or documents is unusually large, the trial court may prepare charts only for the material, relevant and relied-upon witnesses and documents, clearly indicating that the chart is confined to such items. This ensures that the charts remain functional reference tools rather than unwieldy compilations,” the bench said. The directions came while setting aside the conviction of a man for sexually assaulting a four-year-old girl.

The court said the FIR, despite the informant’s professed complete knowledge of the incident, is bereft of even the most rudimentary details, such as the names of the accused and the purported witnesses.