Specialised courts, scientific probe must to nail accused in complex financial crimes: SC

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said a ''time has come for specialised courts'' to adjudicate complex economic and legal issues as it underlined the need for scientific investigation by experts from finance and other fields.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi was dealing with the bail plea of businessman Suryakant Tiwari, who is accused in coal levy scam of Chattishgarh.

''Time has come for specialised courts which can adjudicate complex economic and legal issues. Judges once recruited should be trained enough to deal with such complex financial crimes and conclude the trial expeditiously. Those guilty should not be spared and they should be convicted expeditiously. Similarly, if anybody is innocent, he should be released expeditiously,'' the bench said as it reserved its order.

The bench told senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the Chattishgarh government, judges did not do justice in vacuum and they required able prosecutors and investigators for ''complete justice''.

''Does your state have a dedicated investigation wing for financial crimes? You have an Economic Offence Wing department but you may not have forensic accountants, who can analyse the web of transactions. Normally, financial crimes are currently solved on the basis of confession and for confession, you need to put someone in jail and try to extract the information and prove the case,'' it said.

The bench further asked, ''Is this an archaic 19th century investigation? Look at the state of your investigation. Tomorrow, you will have offenses on the dark web, where transfer of funds will be through cryptocurrencies. Where is your capacity building in that area? Today, be thankful that the alleged bribe-takers took money in currency.'' Justice Kant said nowadays most states did not have the financial capacity to constitute special, designated courts for speedy trial in heinous offences and by the 31st of every month, they try to mobilise funds to pay the salary.

''They don't have funds to pay the salary. So dedicated courts for special laws are of least priority for them. Of course, the Union of India can help them and set up dedicated courts and therefore we have sought response from the Centre in a couple of matters on the issue," the bench said.

On the question of putting a person behind bars, the bench said accused were put in jails for optics.

The top court said none of the states had a witness protection program.

''The only way of protecting witnesses is to keep an accused in jail. Knowing technology today, the physical and spatial distance is of little consequence. There is hardly any state prosecuting agency which really invests its money, time, and energy to ensure an environment of safety and confidence in the witnesses. So what is the use of keeping an undertrial in jail and creating optics of prosecution?'' The bench told Jethmalani, ''You can ask your state how much money they have allocated for witness protection and the reply will be none...rather jails have become safe havens for these criminals to operate and they are operating from there. These jails are the safest place on earth for them now.'' Since Tiwari had been in jail for over two years and with over 300 witnesses to be examined in the case, it was only appropriate to grant him bail, the top court said.

Jethmalani, on the other hand, sought Tiwari's bail in other cases to be cancelled, arguing he was trying to influence witnesses.

The top court said instead of relying on too many witnesses the prosecution should have relied on scientific investigation which would have helped the court in adjudicating the matter effectively.

Justice Kant said if the court directs for expeditious trial in these circumstances, the prosecution and courts will come under immense pressure and they will be forced to drop the witnesses, which may damage the case and break the chain of sequence of prosecution story.

The top court recently asked Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra to setup dedicated NIA and UAPA courts for trial of offences including Naxal cases.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)