India, April 25 -- Noting that no prosecution witness had been examined for 35 years, the Supreme Court has stayed proceedings against a police officer in a case of rioting and voluntarily causing hurt dating back to 1989. The top court said it was inclined to quash the proceedings on the ground of delay alone, but would like to hear the State before proceeding further.

A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and Vijay Bishnoi issued a notice to the Uttarakhand Government on the police officer's plea challenging an Allahabad High Court order refusing to quash the criminal proceedings.

"We are informed that in all, five accused came to be chargesheeted, including the present petitioner. Out of five, two co-accused passed away, and the other tw...