A nearly four-decade-old pending case about five police constables in Uttar Pradesh who brawled over the favours of their canteen cook has led the Supreme Court to uphold the right to speedy trial as a human right, besides directing a sweeping enquiry into the backlog, judicial vacancies and bail pleas languishing in trial courts across the most populous State in India.
The case of ‘simple hurt’ was registered against the policemen who were on Kumbh Mela duty in 1989. Four of them had engaged in a verbal altercation with the fifth, saying the cook had brought him better food. The verbal duel had quickly spiralled into an exchange of blows, and all of them ended up facing criminal charges.
