Nearly 5,000 criminal cases against Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assemblies have been pending in courts across the country for more than five years, showing that a growing number of persons with criminal antecedents are occupying seats in Parliament and the State Assemblies, a report in the Supreme Court has said.

“Despite a series of directions by this court and continuous monitoring, as many as 4,984 cases are pending out of which 1,899 cases are more than five years old,” the report, filed by the Supreme Court’s amicus curiae Vijay Hansaria and advocate Sneha Kalita, revealed.

Steady growth

The report flags the steady growth of the presence of criminality in the highest portals of legislature.“The total number of cases pending as on December 2018 were 4,110; and as on October 2020 were 4,859. Even after disposal of 2,775 cases after December 4, 2018, the cases against MPs/MLAs have increased from 4,122 to 4,984. This shows that more and more persons with criminal antecedents are occupying the seats in Parliament and the State Legislative Assemblies,” the report said.

The report urged the court that it was of “utmost necessity that urgent and stringent steps are taken for expeditious disposal of pending criminal cases”.

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