Overview
- The Supreme Court described the Allahabad High Court’s four-decade pause in a criminal appeal as disturbing and gave interim relief by continuing bail for 72-year-old Vijay Singh while his Special Leave Petition proceeds.
- Vijay Singh was arrested in November 1983, convicted and sentenced to life in December 1985, appealed to the Allahabad High Court where his appeal languished until the court dismissed it in a February 9, 2026 judgment.
- At hearings in early June, the SC summoned the trial court records from Kanpur and ordered that digitised copies be supplied to counsel on request to speed review and listing.
- A proposal from senior counsel to dismiss prosecution appeals pending more than 30 years was rejected by the bench, which said core adjudicative principles and public interest prevent summary disposal solely for delay.
- Reporting of a separate 1982 murder appeal decided after 43 years shows the problem is systemic and may prompt wider reforms such as faster digitisation, case triage, and fresh administrative measures to clear the Allahabad High Court backlog.