Judgment

Thomas, J.—This is yet another opportunity to inform the trial Courts that despite the procedural trammels and vocational con­straints we have reached a stage when no effort shall be spared to speed up trials in the criminal courts. It causes anguish to us that in spite of the exhortations made by this Court and a few High Courts, time and again, some of the trial Courts exhibit stark insensitivity to the need for swift action, even in cases where the accused are languishing in prisons for long years as under-trials only on account of the slackness, if not inertia, in accelerating the process during trial stage.

2. We shall narrate, in a brief manner, as to what happened thus far in the present case though this seems to be one of the rare cases in which an under-trial prisoner has been facing a record time for reach­ing culmination of the trial proceedings.

3. The genesis of the proceedings is interception of a consignment at the Air Warehouse, Mumbai, which was meant for export to Nairobi. The consignment, when opened, was found containing a very huge quantity of Mandrex tablets (Methaqualone). Respondent (Dr. Bipin S. Panchal) was arrested on 8.11.1993 in connection with