The Supreme Court on Wednesday (October 29, 2025) decided to examine the reasons behind criminal courts chronically delaying the framing of charges for years together in cases ripe for trial.
A Bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N.V. Anjaria voiced concern about trial judges failing to frame charges, one of the first steps in trial proceedings, in cases in which chargesheets were filed months, even years, ago.
“This is a problem seen across the country. Charges are not filed in cases even though police have filed chargesheets,” Justice Kumar observed orally.
The court noted that trial proceedings were facing inordinate delays in the framing of charges, even though Section 251 (1) (b) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) mandated that it must be done within 60 days in sessions cases.
Justice Kumar linked the huge pendency of criminal cases in trial courts to the hold-up in framing charges.
“We are of the considered opinion that certain directions need to be issued pan-India… We want to know what the difficulties are… We will issue directions for all courts across the country,” Justice Kumar noted.
The court asked the Attorney General and Solicitor General to assist the court, besides appointing senior advocates Siddharth Luthra and S. Nagamuthu as amici curiae in the case.
The Bench was hearing an appeal filed by Aman Kumar, represented by advocates Saumya Dwivedi and Somesh Chandra Jha, whose regular bail plea was rejected by the Patna High Court.
The case concerned an attempt to steal petrol from a truck. The accusation against Aman Kumar was that he shot the truck owner in the stomach when he tried to resist the theft.
“The petitioner, who is an accused for offences punishable under Sections 309(5), 109(1), 103, 105 of BNS and 27 of the Arms Act is seeking for grant of regular bail contending that he is innocent and has been falsely implicated,” the apex court noted.
The Bench noted that Aman Kumar has been behind bars since August last year. It said the trial judge was yet to frame charges though the chargesheet was filed in the case in September 2024.
“We have noticed, time and again, the charges are not being framed even months and years after framing the chargesheet. This is one of the primary reasons for the trial getting delayed. Until and unless it is framed, trial will not commence. As such, this situation seems to be prevalent in most of the courts and we are of the considered opinion that certain directions need to be issued pan-India,” the court observed.
It listed the case for further hearing after two weeks.
Published – October 29, 2025 10:36 pm IST
