The Supreme Court has asked the high courts to ensure that trial courts in their jurisdictions conduct proceedings in criminal cases of serious offences like murder and rape on a day-to-day basis, as it regretted that such a practice, in vogue earlier, has been abandoned.

A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Viswanathan passed the directions while disposing of an appeal filed by the CBI seeking cancellation of the bail granted to a rape accused, Mir Usman, by Calcutta High Court during the pendency of the trial.

The bench went through the status report furnished by the additional sessions judge, 1st-cum-special court, Tamluk, East Midnapore, dealing with the case referred to Section 309 of the CrPC.

"The practice of conducting trials on a day-to-day basis, more particularly in important or sensitive cases, as was the tradition about 30 years ago, has been given a complete go-by. We believe that it is high time the courts revert to that practice.... All high courts need to constitute a committee to discuss this issue very seriously for the benefit of their respective district judiciaries," the bench said.