On September 27, a divisional bench of the Gujarat High Court comprising of Justice AS Supehia and Justice MR Mengdey ordered the state government to pay Rs 1 lakh as compensation to Chandanji Thakor, a 27-year-old inmate who, after being granted bail in 2020, remained imprisoned for an additional three years.
Despite receiving bail in 2020, Thakor reportedly had to serve three years in prison because prison officials asserted that they were unable to access the bail order that the High Court registry had forwarded to them as an email attachment.
“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 given the COVID-19 pandemic and though they have received the E-mail, they were unable to open the attachment,” the court order read.
Noting that after receiving the email from the District Sessions Court, no measures were made by the Court to ensure that the decision to release the convict on bail was properly carried out. “The present case is an eye-opener,” said the Court. According to the reports, Thakor had been imprisoned for life in a murder case until his sentence was suspended on September 29, 2020.
The jail authorities gave the COVID-19 pandemic as an explanation for why they were unable to take the appropriate steps and why they failed to detect the email. As a result, the Court’s ruling was not followed.
The District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), according to the court’s most recent order, failed to alert the jail authorities of the suspension of the sentence. The Court further stated that Thakor remained to be imprisoned as a result of the prison guards’ negligence.
“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 about the order passed by this Court,” said the Court.
The bench then cited the jail staff’s negligence and ordered the state government to pay the Rs 1 lakh compensation within 14 days. In addition, the court ordered all DLSAs to compile information on all inmates who have been granted bail but may not yet have been released.
“The DLSA shall collect the reasons for their not having been released either for want of surety or non-execution of the jail bonds or for any other reason,” the Court directed.
