How Many Prisoners In Last 3 Years Were Not Released Within 24 Hours Of Being Granted Bail, Delhi HC Directs DG (Prisons) To Conduct Inquiry And Submit Report [Read Order]

Delhi High Court has directed the Director General (Prisons) to conduct an inquiry as to on how many occasions were the prisoner not released within 24 hours of being granted bail by a competent court, for reasons not attributable to that prisoner.

The Division Bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Subramonium Prasad has directed the DG (Prisons) to submit a status report indicating the date of the order, the case number, the date of release, and the number of days of unlawful detention in a tabulated form.

The order has come in criminal writ moved by a prisoner who was illegally detained in the prison despite being granted bail by the competent court.

While perusing the affidavit submitted by the Superintendent of the Central Jail-1, the court expressed deep dissatisfaction towards the excuse given by the prison authorities for illegally detaining the Petitioner for the period between 15.06.2020 to 25.06.2020.

The Petitioner submitted that he was granted bail in both the complaints filed against him under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act much before December, 2019 and he had completed all the requisite formalities as was directed, in the month of December, 2019 itself.

In light of this, the court highlighted that if there was any confusion regarding the status of the accused, it was the bounden duty of the Superintendent to have ensured that appropriate steps were taken well in time to seek necessary clarifications from the concerned court.

The court further noted that the Petitioner had already undergone the sentence imposed on him in terms of the order of the trial court by the end of January, 2020.

While refusing to accept the apology of the Superintendent, the court directed him to conduct an inquiry into the matter and file a Status Report.

The court will next take up this matter on August 06.

Case Title: Sanjay Singh v. GNCTD 

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