ORDER :

Delay condoned.

1. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and perused the order impugned rejecting the prayer for their release on bail pending disposal of their appeal against their conviction under Sections 148, 302 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code recorded by the Trial Court by its judgment and order dated 20.01.2007. Noticeably, the incident is of 22.09.2005 and the appeal filed by the petitioners against their conviction is of the year 2007.

On a consideration of the materials on record to the extent necessary at this stage and qua the prayer for bail, we are not inclined to interfere with the order impugned. However, having regard to the insistent plea on behalf of the petitioners to indicate a time frame for the disposal of the appeal, we request the High Court, having regard to the singular facts and circumstances of the case, to decide the appeal within a period of four months herefrom. In making this request, we have taken note of the persistent submission on behalf of the petitioners that having regard to the huge pendency of cases including criminal appeals before the High Court, it would in normal course of things, take several more years for the disposal of the appeal in hand. As it is, a decade has already passed since the institution of the appeal. The reliefs prayed for in the instant petition thus stand addressed in the above terms.

2. The phenomenon of mounting pendency and discomfiting delay in disposal of cases, both before the District Courts and the High Courts of the country, has by this time received the concerned attention of this Court on umpteen occasions and from time to time in several cases, exhaustive directions of general nature have been issued to ameliorate the situation in the overwhelming perspective of the right to speedy trial and disposal of criminal appeals as ingrained in Article 21 of the Constitution of India. As recent as in Hussain & Anr. Vs. Union of India – Criminal Appeal No.509 of 2017 rendered on 09.03.2017, this Court on an in-depth examination of all relevant aspects on the issue and also after taking cognizance of the steps already initiated by the judiciary, both at the District and the High Court levels, has issued directions to achieve speedy disposal of trials and appeals specially of the long pending cases as mentioned therein on the basis of action plans to be formulated and monitored by the High Courts.

3. With due deference to the ongoing efforts as referred to hereinabove and noticing that the initiatives directed are more or less general in nature and in contemplation of a scrutiny in consolidation of the same, we had requested Mr. C.U. Singh and Mr. Shyam Divan, Senior Advocates of this Court to offer their responses and recommendations for outlining specific guidelines based on the recorded statistics of pending criminal appeals, to start with, as a pilot project, of the High Court of Allahabad. The choice of the High Court, we may clarify, is only in view of the extent of pendency and the frequently expressed concern over the relatively longer disposal time in the adjudication of the criminal appeals before it, which as well is noticeable from the contemporaneous records. We wish to state that the selection of the High Court by no means is an indication of any deficiency in the functioning or the ongoing endeavours on its part in addressing the issue and ought to be viewed as a step, if possible, to reinforce the same in the espousal of a public cause founded on the cherished right of personal liberty, however in accordance with law.

4. It is a common experience that the jails in the country are generally overcrowded and the living conditions thereof, barring a few, are poor, nay pitiable, very often exposing the inmates to dehumanizing compulsions. Not only the custodial restraint of those detained has to be sanctioned by law, any undue and unjustified delay in the redressal processes initiated by them would have the potential of their d