"Arnesh Kumar Judgment Not Followed": Madhya Pradesh HC Issues Directions To High Powered Committee To Review Situation On Decongestion Of Prisons

Observing that the directions of the Arnesh Kumar judgment is not being followed in the State for decongesting prisons, the Madhya Pradesh High Court last week issued directions to the High Powered Committee to review the situation and evaluate compliance of earlier resolutions passed by it.

A division bench comprising of Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla observed thus:

"What is disturbing to note is that as per the data available online in District Bhopal alone for the period 03.05.2021 to 16.06.2021, 1225 arrests were made out of which nearly 1060 accused were those who were arrested for the offences punishable upto 7 years of imprisonment, which constitutes 86.53% of the total number of arrests made for that period as against 165 accused who were found involved in offences punishable with more than 7 years imprisonment."

"Similarly, in Jabalpur district for the same period i.e. 03.05.2021 to 16.06.2021, out of the total 2086 accused arrested, 1852 accused were those who were arrested for the offences punishable with upto 7 years of imprisonment which constitutes 88.78% of the total arrest made for the said period whereas 234 (11.22%) were those who were found involved in the offences punishable with more than 7 years of imprisonment."

Observing thus, the Court said that:

"This clearly shows that directions of the Supreme Court in the case of Arnesh Kumar vs. State of Bihar & Another (2014)8 SCC 273 and subsequent order dated 07.05.2021 passed by the Supreme Court in Re: Contagion Of Covid-19 Virus in Prisons Suo Motu Writ Petition (Civil) No.1/2020 are not being followed in the State."

The development came after the Court was apprised by Senior Advocate Chander Uday Singh and amicus curiae Sankalp Kochar that various resolutions of the High powered committee have not been implemented.

It was thus submitted that despite a clear order dated 31st May of the High Court, the data produced on behalf of the State Government showed that out of 9220 applications filed for grant of interim bail, in cases where the accused were facing trial for offences punishable upto maximum 7 years imprisonment, 2583 applications were allowed but surprisingly 2959 applications were rejected.

It was also submitted that details of about 3678 cases were still awaited as on 05.06.2021, data upto which time is reflected in the status report filed by the State on 11.06.2021

Hearing this, the Court observed thus:

"The data produced by the State however does not disclose as to what happened to rest of the accused who were not produced before the Court because the total number of the accused arrested as per the action taken report is 9529 out of which only 4705 are stated to have been produced before the Court and of them 3862 are sent to jail."

In view of the aforesaid, the Court issued the following directions to the High Powered Committee:

- The High Power Committee should again meet some time in the next week, as per the discretion of the Chairperson, to review the over all situation and to evaluate the compliance of the various resolutions passed in its last meeting held on 04.06.2021.

- The High Power Committee may also find out as to in how many cases the applications of temporary bail were rejected prior to clarificatory order passed by this Court on 31.05.2021 and examine advisability of filing fresh applications in such cases.

- The High Power Committee may, apart from D.G. (Prisons) and Director, Prosecution, also invite Director General of Police to impress upon him to ensure faithful compliance of the directions issued by the Supreme Court in the case of Arnesh Kumar vs. State of Bihar & Another (2014)8 SCC 273.

The matter will now be considered on July 12.

Title: IN REFERENCE (SUO MOTU) Vs THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH AND OTHERS

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