Steps to address shortcomings in trial of criminal cases submitted before SC

Three Supreme Court-appointed Amici Curiae (friends of the court) placed before the top court on Thursday, “Draft Rules of Criminal Practice, 2020”, outlining measures aimed to address shortcomings in the trial of criminal cases and to bring about uniformity across the country in criminal probes and trials.

The measures suggested in the draft rules include steps to ensure the independence of public prosecutors by appointing separate legal advisors to advise the investigators during the probe and standard practices for recording evidence and writing judgments.

The three Amici Curiae, senior counsels R Basant and Siddharth Luthra and advocate K Parameshwar were appointed by the top court in November 2017 and February 2018 to assist the court after it noticed certain inadequacies in the procedure followed during the criminal trials across the country while hearing a criminal case. The court registered a suo motu case and took up the matter with a view to issuing guidelines regarding such deficiencies in criminal trials.

The bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde on Thursday directed that he copy of the draft rules be supplied to all states and union territories.

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