If tonight is heavy, call Tele-MANAS 14416, free, 24 hours. Emergency 112. Free legal aid: your District Legal Services Authority, see how.

Door 4 of 14

Delay and early hearing

“Ten years and no verdict.”

What can you do when a family or dowry case has been delayed for years?

In short. In a cruelty or dowry death trial, you can ask the court to treat it as a priority case, citing the Supreme Court's directions of 20 August 2026. Ask that reasons be recorded for every adjournment. An adjournment is a postponed hearing. If the delay is extreme, a High Court petition under Article 226 can ask for a speedy trial.

General information, not advice on your case. Please speak to your own lawyer, or to your District Legal Services Authority, about your case.

Last updated 27 October 2026.

The door, step by step

  1. In a cruelty or dowry death trial, you can ask the court to treat it as a priority case, citing the Supreme Court's directions of 20 August 2026.Section 498A IPC / Section 85 BNS, Section 304B IPC / Section 80 BNS: cruelty and dowry death trials
  2. Ask that reasons be recorded for every adjournment. An adjournment is a postponed hearing.Section 309 CrPC / Section 346 BNSS: limits on postponing a trial
  3. If the delay is extreme, a High Court petition under Article 226 can ask for a speedy trial.Article 226: go straight to the High Court
What backs it up. The Supreme Court has said a speedy trial is part of the right to life, and in August 2026 gave directions to speed these cases up.Hussainara Khatoon v. State of Bihar, 1979, reported (1980) 1 SCC 81. State of U.P. v. Ajmal Beg, directions of 20 August 2026. Read the source
Get help nowSee all our sources

Related doors

10

“1,500 km for every hearing.”

Transfer petition

14

“I cannot afford a lawyer. I cannot cope.”

Legal aid and care

See all 14 doors

It is slow, but it is not deaf. Related cases are pending and undecided. We name no one. If tonight is heavy, call 14416.

↑ Top