Guwahati, Sept. 21 -- Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan has called for trial courts to take steps to eliminate frivolous criminal cases, saying their continued registration is placing an already overburdened justice system under further strain.

Speaking on 'Ethics in Criminal Litigation and the Duties of the Defence and the Prosecution' at the fourth discourse organised by the Centre for Discourses on Criminal and Constitutional Jurisprudence at the India International Centre in New Delhi on September 17, Justice Bhuyan said criminal proceedings were being initiated on increasingly trivial grounds.

According to Bar and Bench, he cited cases involving people for consuming food, reciting poems, participating in demonstrations, raising sl...