Daijiworld Media Network – Gadchiroli

Gadchiroli, Sep 20: The Aheri Additional District and Sessions Court in Maharashtra’s Maoist-affected Gadchiroli district has 31 pending cases under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), with most of them pending for five years or more.

The court was established in 2023 to bring trials closer to remote villages and help speed up the disposal of cases in the Maoist-affected region. It followed demands from local lawyers, who had sought a sessions court in Aheri since 2008.

The court has now emerged as Maharashtra’s biggest UAPA docket, with the large number of pending cases highlighting the challenges involved in conducting trials in the remote and forested region.

Witnesses often have to travel for several hours through difficult terrain to appear before the court. Accused persons are also frequently produced from distant jails through videoconferencing.

Presiding officers have asked police to ensure witnesses are produced regularly and have scheduled depositions taking into account local transportation constraints.

The production of police and medical witnesses who have since been transferred to other districts also requires coordination between different authorities, adding to the challenges in completing proceedings.

The need for a dedicated court in the region had also come into focus during the Supreme Court’s proceedings earlier this year concerning the bail plea of lawyer Surendra Gadling, who has represented several UAPA accused and was arrested in the 2018 Elgaar Parishad case.

Gadling had told the Supreme Court that his 2016 Surjagarh arson case remained pending without a court or prosecutor in Aheri.

The establishment of the Aheri court was intended to address such difficulties by bringing judicial proceedings closer to the areas where alleged offences occurred. However, the pending UAPA cases indicate that logistical and procedural challenges continue to affect the pace of trials in the region.