New Delhi, May 13 -- The Supreme Court has turned its lens on Uttar Pradesh's deeply burdened criminal justice system, expanding proceedings in a 35-year-old criminal case into a wider judicial examination of staggering pendency, prolonged undertrial incarceration, judicial vacancies and delays in disposal of bail pleas across the state.

A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and Ujjal Bhuyan quashed criminal proceedings pending since 1991 before a court in Prayagraj, observing that the constitutional guarantee of speedy trial under Article 21 cannot be reduced to a "mere platitude".

Calling for extensive state-wide data from the Allahabad High Court, the bench indicated that the matter may evolve into a larger continuing mandamus on judicial...