The Madras High Court has directed the Additional Mahila Court (Judicial Magistrate) in Alandur to expedite the trial and dispose of a 2024 criminal case concerning domestic/women’s grievances within a strict timeframe of eight months.

The single-judge bench of Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy passed the order in a petition filed under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023—which corresponds to Section 482 of the erstwhile CrPC—seeking a direction for the speedy trial and disposal of C.C. No. 428 of 2024 arising out of Crime No. 6/2024.

Delay in Serving Summons and Prolonged Pendency Highlighted:

Appearing for the petitioner (Shilaja TR), Advocate Rahul Jagannathan strongly urged the court to intervene against the procedural stagnation in the trial court.

Mr. Rahul Jagannathan argued that despite the case being registered and institutionalized back in the year 2024, it has been languishing at the foundational stage of “service pending notice” to the accused persons (A1 to A3). He contended that undue delay in serving initial summons completely stalls the criminal justice delivery system, leaving the aggrieved petitioner in a state of perpetual limbo.

Furthermore, the counsel pointed out that there are a total of 11 witnesses listed by the prosecution to be examined in the matter. He argued that unless a firm, time-bound mandate is placed on both the respondent police to execute the summons and the trial magistrate to manage the schedule, the case runs the risk of protracted delay, thereby defeating the statutory intent of speedy trial under the new procedural laws.

Court’s Directions

Taking note of the submissions and evaluating the case status, the High Court observed that the matter is indeed a 2024 case still stuck at the stage of serving notices to A1–A3, with 11 witnesses lined up for examination.

Consequently, the Court issued the following operational directives to unclog the proceedings:

• To the Police: The respondent police (All Women Police Station, Neelankarai) is directed to strictly serve the summons on the accused persons within a maximum period of four (4) weeks.
• To the Trial Court: The Judicial Magistrate, Additional Mahila Court, Alandur, is requested to expedite the trial process and conclude the entire case as quickly as possible, in any event, not later than eight (8) months from the date of receiving the web-copy of the order.
• To the Parties: Both the petitioner and the prosecution have been ordered to cleanly co-operate with the trial court to ensure early disposal without seeking unnecessary adjournments.