New Delhi, Dec. 5 -- The Supreme Court recently observed that the tendency to file chargesheets in cases where no strong suspicion is made out clogs the judicial system, as it forces courts to spend time on trials likely to result in acquittal. A bench of Justices N Kotiswar Singh and Manmohan clarified that, though there is no way to predict whether a case will result in conviction or acquittal, the State should not prosecute citizens without a reasonable prospect of conviction, as this compromises the right to a fair process.

"This diverts limited judicial resources from handling stronger, more serious cases, contributing to massive case backlogs. Undoubtedly, there can be no analysis at the charge framing stage as to whether the case ...