MOHINDER SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CRIMINAL Misc No. 7377-M of 1988 has been filed by the accused petitioner Mohinder Singh for quashing F.I.R. No. 88 registered against him on 15-3-1980 for irregularities in the sale/distribution of Kerosene oil and the challan filed in the Court against him, on its basis on 5-1-1988, It has been asserted therein that the prosecution of the accused had not made any headway till 6th July, 1988 and therefore, fundamental right vested in the accused-petitioner of having a speedy trial in terms of Article 21 of the Constitution of India has been violated and given a complete go by and therefore, the F.I.R. and the challan put against him in the Court call for being quashed.

(2.) I have heard Shri P. S. Hundal, Advocate, for the petitioner, Shri G. S. Kharbanda, Advocate, for the State and perused the relevant record very carefully.

(3.) SIMILARLY in Madheshwardhari Singh and another v. State of Bihar, AIR 1986 Patna 324, a Full Bench of the Patna High Court observed, "Coming nearest home, it would seem that the right to a speedy public trial as a constitutional guarantee is of a somewhat recent origin in our country." However, by now it is so well settled by precedential mandate of the Final Court itself that the right to a speedy public trial is a part and parcel of the constitutional guarantee under Article 21, that it would be wasteful and unnecessary to examine the issue on principle afresh. In Hussainara Khatoon v. State of Bihar, AIR 1979 SC 1360, which was yet one of the series of cases from our own State, arising from the heart rending delays in the context of undertrials, Bhagwati, J. (as he then was), after in terms quoting the Sixth Amendment to the American Constitution and also Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, observed as under :-