The Supreme Court said that it would examine the role of each stakeholder for the 37-year delay in the trial of former Railway Minister L N Mishra's murder even as CBI opposed the plea of the accused for quashing the trial on account of the delay. A bench comprising justices H L Dattu and C K Prasad yesterday made it clear that it will scrutinise the aspect of delay after 1991.

The apex court had dealt with the Mishra case along with other cases in 1991 in which it was held that speedy trial was the fundamental right of accused under Article 21 of the Constitution. The bench was hearing the petition filed by 65-year-old advocate Ranjan Dwivedi seeking quashing of the trial against him in the 1975 murder case of Mishra.

Mishra was killed in a bomb blast at a function at Samastipur Railway station in Bihar on January 3, 1975, and Dwivedi, who was 24-year-old at that time, was made accused along with three Anand Margas members, one of whom has died.