Prioritise Criminal Appeals Of Elderly Accused On Bail, Especially When Crime Is Old: Supreme Court To High Courts

The Supreme Court has advised the High Courts to give adequate priority to criminal appeals, where the accused are on bail. If the accused persons have remained on bail, especially in cases involving life sentences, and the appeal is ultimately dismissed after several years, then sending the accused back to prison might be difficult, particularly when they have attained old age.

The Court noted that generally, the High Courts prioritise appeals where the accused are in prison. However, there should be a balance struck so as to give adequate priority to the appeals where the accused are on bail, especially when the accused are aged and a long time has passed since the crime.

"The old age of the accused and the long lapse of time from the commission of the offence can always be a ground available to give some priority to the appeals against conviction of the accused on bail," the Court said.

A bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka, Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice AG Masih made these observations while deciding an appeal filed by the State of Madhya Pradesh regarding a crime which occurred in 1989. The High Court, while converting the conviction under Section 302 into the second part of Section 304 of the IPC, let off the accused with the sentence already underwent by them. The High Court took into consideration the fact that one of the accused was aged above 80 years and the others were in their seventies.

While refusing to interfere with the High Court's judgment, the Supreme Court observed that the incident is almost 36 years old.

In the post-script to the judgment, the Court observed :

"In all the major High Courts in our country, there is a huge pendency of criminal appeals against conviction and acquittal. Considering the pendency of very old criminal appeals, priority is usually given to the hearing of the appeals where the accused are in prison. The appeals against conviction where the accused are on bail take a backseat. However, a right balance has to be struck by taking up for hearing even some of the old criminal appeals against conviction where accused are on bail. The old age of the accused and the long lapse of time from the commission of the offence can always be a ground available to give some priority to the appeals against conviction of the accused on bail. If the appeals against conviction where the accused are on bail and especially where a life sentence has been imposed are heard after a decade or more from its filing, if the appeal is dismissed, the question arises of sending the accused back to jail after a long period of more than a decade. Therefore, it is desirable that certain categories of appeals against conviction where the accused are on bail should be given priority."

Case : State of Madhya Pradesh vs Shyamlal and others

Citation : 2025 LiveLaw (SC) 333

Click here to read the judgment