Despite bail, the prisoner remained in jail for three years, court gives compensation

The Gujarat High Court has recently ordered the state government to grant Rs 1 lakh to a convict after he served 3 extra years in prison as the jail authorities stated that they could not open his bail order attachment sent along with an email.

They stated that the amount is to be handed over to the convict within a period of 14 days.

The convict, identified as 27-year-old Chandanji Thakor, who was serving life imprisonment in a murder case when his sentence was suspended on September 29, 2020.

However, he continued to remain in jail till 2023, as the prison authorities claimed they couldn’t open the bail order sent to them by the High Court registry.

The matter came to notice after the convict moved a fresh bail application.

Later, a division bench of Justice AS Supehia and Justice MR Mengdey ordered the state government to pay a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the convict.

In its order, the court stated, “In the present case, the registry of this Court had categorically informed the jail authorities about the order passed by this Court releasing the applicant on regular bail. It is not the case that such E-mail was not received by the jail authorities. It is the case of the jail authorities that necessary action could not be taken in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and though they have received the E-mail, they were unable to open the attachment.”

Furthermore, the court noted that though the email was sent to District Sessions Court too, no efforts were made to see that the order releasing the convict on bail was appropriately implemented.

The court stated, “The present case is an eye opener.”

It stated, “The applicant, though was released and could have enjoyed his freedom, was forced to remain in jail only because no attention was paid by the jail authorities to contact the Registry or Sessions Court with regard to the order passed by this Court.”

Considering the plight of the prisoner who spent almost 3 years in jail despite having secured bail, the court stated that it was inclined to grant compensation to him.

On the case, the jail authorities claimed they couldn’t take the necessary action in the case due to the Covid pandemic. They also stated that they were unable to open the attachment with mail.

Considering the seriousness of the case, the Gujarat High Court also directed all the District Legal Services Authority to collect data of all prisoners who have been granted bail but may not have been released yet.