The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed withdrawal of 65 criminal cases against former and sitting politicians in Himachal Pradesh on finding that none of the cases involved grave or heinous crimes.
On the other hand, it will slow the progress of trial in other serious cases which courts are expected to decide finally.” After two years of the high court’s judgment, the state led by additional advocate general (AAG) Vaibhav Srivastava informed the court that effectively, only 39 cases survived out of 45 as during the pendency of the matter in the top court, the trial in six cases either ended in acquittal or the accused were discharged.
The court permitting the state’s request for withdrawal of prosecution said, “Continuation of prosecution in these cases will not serve the cause of administration of justice.
As the matter pertained to elected representatives, the court noted that on August 10, 2021, the top court in a case (Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v Union of India) monitoring speedy trial of criminal cases against MPs/MLAs directed that for withdrawal of prosecution against any former or sitting legislators, the prosecution of the concerned state will have to seek prior permission of the concerned high court. This was a unique requirement court introduced to avoid misuse of power provided for withdrawal of prosecution under section 321 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), The state approached the high court in 2024. The high court on April 26, 2024 allowed withdrawal in 15 cases, leaving a balance of 45 cases.
The remaining five cases were disposed of by the trial court.
