India, July 19 -- The Supreme Court on Friday issued a stern warning to the Union and state governments, cautioning that the continued failure to establish exclusive special courts for cases investigated under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) act and other stringent laws may leave courts with no option but to grant bail to undertrial prisoners, even in cases involving terror and heinous crimes.

"If the authorities fail to establish special courts with requisite infrastructure to conduct timebound trials, the courts would invariably be without any option but to release undertrials on bail.How long can such suspects be kept behind bars when there is no mechanism for speedy trial?" observed a bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya...