India, Feb. 18 -- Prolonged pretrial incarceration due to delays in trials not only violates an accused person's fundamental rights but also erodes public trust in the judicial system, the Supreme Court emphasised, urging courts across the country to ensure that the process of justice is not derailed by procedural inefficiencies.

Stressing that the right to a speedy trial is a fundamental right enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution, a bench of justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan called for urgent reforms in trial procedures to prevent undue delays that undermine faith in the criminal justice system, even as it reinforced that gravity of an alleged crime alone cannot deprive a person of their liberty for an indefinite period.

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