Orissa High Court Orders District Legal Services Authorities To File Applications On Behalf Of 45 Prisoners Unable To Furnish Bail Bonds

The Orissa High Court has directed the District Legal Services Authorities (DLSAs) of eight districts to file appropriate applications before respective criminal courts for release of about 45 prisoners who have already been granted bail, but unable to exit the prisons due to inability to furnish bail bonds.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Dr. S. Muralidhar and Justice Gourishankar Satapathy was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) concerning over-crowding of various jails in the State.

Senior Advocate Gautam Misra, who is acting as amicus curiae in the case, after referring to the reports submitted by various DLSAs informed the Court that there are as many as 45 prisoners who are unable to exit jails as they are not in a position to furnish bail bonds. Details of 22 such prisoners were placed before the Court.

Taking note of the above predicament of the said inmates, the Court reiterated the directions issued by the Apex Court in Moti Ram v. State of Madhya Pradesh and in a recent order In Re Policy Strategy for Grant of Bail.

In Re Policy Strategy for Grant of Bail, the Supreme Court had taken note of the fact that there are a number of prisoners around the country who are under the category of “bailed out but not released” and had accordingly issued the following directions for ameliorating the existing problems.

1) The Court which grants bail to an undertrial prisoner/convict would be required to send a soft copy of the bail order by e-mail to the prisoner through the Jail Superintendent on the same day or the next day. The Jail Superintendent would be required to enter the date of grant of bail in the e-prisons software [or any other software which is being used by the Prison Department].

2) If the accused is not released within a period of 7 days from the date of grant of bail, it would be the duty of the Superintendent of Jail to inform the Secretary, DLSA who may depute para legal volunteer or jail visiting advocate to interact with the prisoner and assist the prisoner in all ways possible for his release.

3) NIC would make attempts to create necessary fields in the e-prison software so that the date of grant of bail and date of release are entered by the Prison Department and in case the prisoner is not released within 7 days, then an automatic email can be sent to the Secretary, DLSA.

4) The Secretary, DLSA with a view to find out the economic condition of the accused, may take help of the Probation Officers or the Para Legal Volunteers to prepare a report on the socio-economic conditions of the inmate which may be placed before the concerned Court with a request to relax the condition (s) of bail/surety.

5) In cases where the undertrial or convict requests that he can furnish bail bond or sureties once released, then in an appropriate case, the Court may consider granting temporary bail for a specified period to the accused so that he can furnish bail bond or sureties.

6) If the bail bonds are not furnished within one month from the date of grant bail, the concerned Court may suo moto take up the case and consider whether the conditions of bail require modification/ relaxation.

7) One of the reasons which delays the release of the accused/ convict is the insistence upon local surety. It is suggested that in such cases, the courts may not impose the condition of local surety.

Having regard for the aforesaid directions, the High Court ordered the Secretaries of the DLSAs of Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Balasore, Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Nabarangpur to take immediate steps to file appropriate applications in the respective criminal Courts to facilitate the early release of such prisoners by modification of the bail orders passed to bring it in line with the directions of the Supreme Court in the above two cases.

The Member Secretary, Odisha State Legal Services Authority (OSLSA) was requested to coordinate with the Secretaries of the aforementioned DLSAs so that these steps can be taken in a time-bound manner and completed by April 10, 2023.

Case Title: Krushna Prasad Sahoo v. State of Odisha & Ors.

Case No.: W.P.(C) No. 6610 of 2006

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