Supreme Court Rebukes Government Over Lack of Special Courts for NIA Cases

The Supreme Court on Friday criticized both the Centre and the Maharashtra government for their failure to set up special courts for cases under specific statutes, cautioning that this failure would compel courts to grant bail to accused individuals.

A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi emphasized that if the authorities do not create courts with the necessary infrastructure for conducting expeditious trials under the NIA Act and other statutes, they might have no choice but to release the accused on bail due to the absence of an effective framework for timely conclusions of trials.

The top court's remarks came during the hearing of Kailash Ramchandani's bail plea, highlighting the urgency for dedicated judicial infrastructure. The court indicated that while a special NIA court exists in Mumbai, there remains a stark lack of dedicated resources and officials to manage these sensitive cases efficiently.

(With inputs from agencies.)