Despite low conviction rates, many accused persons remain in jail for years!

Statement by Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan

Bengaluru (Karnataka) – A section of the judicial system appears to be influenced by a tendency of being “more loyal than the king.” As a result, people continue to languish in prisons for months and even years. In some cases, the system becomes so stringent that more cases are filed than necessary. Laws such as the Prevention of Money Laundering Act are important tools to deal with such issues; however, excessive use of these laws weakens their effectiveness.

Referring to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Justice Ujjal Bhuyan questioned why accused persons should remain incarcerated for years when the conviction rate under the law is reportedly less than 5 percent. He raised this concern while speaking at the first national conference of the Supreme Court Bar Association held here.

Waste of court time due to social media-related cases

Justice Bhuyan further stated that the Supreme Court had to constitute a Special Investigation Team to deal with certain disputes arising from social media posts, which ultimately led to a waste of valuable judicial time. He added that the idea of a “Developed India” is a political objective, and courts must remain independent in their functioning. A truly developed nation must allow space for debate and dissent, and disagreements should not be treated as criminal acts.