SC directs Uttar Pradesh to pay Rs 5 lakh for not releasing man two months after bail
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation to an accused whose release was delayed by Ghaziabad District Jail authorities in a case under the state's anti-conversion law, Live Law reported.
The bench, comprising Justices KV Viswanathan and NK Singh, also ordered a judicial inquiry into the lapses that led to the delayed release.
The man had been booked under sections of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to kidnapping, abducting, or compelling a woman to marry against her will, in addition to provisions of the 2021 Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act. He was granted bail by the top court on April 29.
On Tuesday, the man told the court that he had not been released two months after getting relief because a sub-section of the provision under which he was booked was not mentioned in the bail order.
The top court had called it a ' travesty of justice '. The accused was released from jail on Tuesday evening following the court's observations.
On Wednesday, the court observed that personal liberty 'cannot be denied on useless technicalities and irrelevant errors', especially when the case and offence details were clear from the bail order.
The bench also asked the chief justice of the Allahabad High Court to appoint the principal district and sessions judge, Ghaziabad, to conduct the judicial inquiry, Bar and Bench reported.
The court said that the inquiry must determine if there was negligence or gross negligence in the case for the delay and fix responsibility for it.
The matter will be heard next on August 18.
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