In a major step toward reducing judicial delays, the High Court disposed of 6,199 long-pending criminal miscellaneous cases in a single day on Thursday through 14 criminal motion benches.

Md Shafiqul Islam, public relations officer (PRO) of the Supreme Court, confirmed the matter. He said that a total of 13,288 old criminal miscellaneous cases have been resolved over the last three working days (one day each in three weeks) since the special clearance drive began.

The special initiative was launched following directives from Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury to expedite the disposal of long-pending cases across the Criminal Motion and Writ Motion Benches of the High Court Division. The drive was taken to ensure swift justice for litigants, drastically reduce the case backlog, and infuse dynamism into the country’s judiciary.

The initiative formally began on 7 May, when the judges from the High Court’s Criminal and Writ Motion Benches prioritized clearing backlogs by designating a specific day each week for disposing of old criminal miscellaneous and writ cases. The special drive to clear pending cases will continue.