Pending cases against Tablighi Jamat members transferred to 3 Trial Courts in UP, should be decided within 8 weeks: Allahabad HC

Considering the need for expeditious disposal of these cases, the Allahabad High Court has directed that all cases pending against the members of the Tablighi Jamat for alleged violations of COVID-19 guidelines may be transferred to the Chief Judicial Magistrates of Lucknow, Meerut and Bareilly districts within a period of 2 weeks..A Bench of Justices Shashi Kant Gupta and Shamim Ahmed directed the Chief Secretary, State of Uttar Pradesh to transfer the criminal cases pending against the members of Tablighi Jamat in the following manner,."... the cases pending in Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi and Lucknow Zones be transferred to Chief Judicial Magistrate, Lucknow. Likewise cases pending in Agra and Meerut Zones be transferred to Chief Judicial Magistrate, Meerut. Lastly, the cases pending in Bareilly Zone be transferred to Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bareilly."Allahabad High Court.The Bench added that all cases would be heard and decided by the respective Chief Judicial Magistrates within 8 weeks from the date of receipt of the record by the concerned Courts..The High Court added that all matters should be heard by the concerned Courts through video conferencing. .In this regard, the High Court relied on an order of the Supreme Court dated September 4, 2020, wherein it had recorded the assurance of the concerned parties that complete cooperation would be extended to the trial Courts for expeditious disposal of the cases including by participating in the video conference proceedings..The High Court's Registrar General has now been directed to monitor the progress of the cases transferred to the Chief Judicial Magistrates at Lucknow, Meerut and Bareilly and to submit a report within a period of 3 months before Chief Justice Govind Mathur..By its September 4 order, the Supreme Court had directed the Uttar Pradesh Government to move a formal application so that criminal cases pending against Tablighi Jamat members in various districts for alleged COVID-19 lockdown violations can be transferred for expeditious disposal by a desginated trial courts..The High Court noted that the petitioners had raised two grievances before the Apex Court, namely;That a multitude of criminal cases were pending against members of Tablighi Jamat across the State of Uttar Pradesh and concerned Courts were granting bails imposing different conditions and that there was no uniformity in that regard.That due to pendency of proceedings in different Courts, the accused were facing logistical difficulties for which reason, as the cases involving the same issue, there was a need to proceed for inquiry/trial before one Court in the State of Uttar Pradesh..Additional Advocate General Manish Goyal apprised the Court of the relevant portion of the order passed by the Supreme Court on Septemeber 4. The Court also took note of submissions that it may not be practical for a single Court to hear all cases in the State given Uttar Pradesh is large State. The High Court proceeded to order for the Zone-wise consolidation of cases of faster disposal..On these terms, the Government's plea was disposed of. .Read the Order here: