The Gujarat High Court has severely criticised the state government for its failure to safeguard the rights of prisoners who are lodged behind bars for years and months post their arrest without being produced before the court. The court remarked that a prisoner is “not a slave” and that they cannot be given a “raw deal” by citing excuses like police being busy in guarding VIPs, or a technical problem in the video conferencing system.
Notably, the reaction came in response to a bail plea filed by a murder-accused who was lodged in Sabarmati Central Jail for 19 months since his arrest without being produced before the court for remand and without any trial. The accused—Kiran Rathod—was arrested by police personnel of Ahmedabad's Sardarnagar Police Station, where the FIR was registered against him.
As per Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), it is mandatory to produce the accused before the competent magistrate every 15 days for extension of his judicial remand. Interestingly, the court, during the hearing of the bail plea, decided to delve deep into the matter. It directed the authorities to provide details of non-production of jail inmates lodged in Sabarmati Central Jail in connection with offences registered with Sardarnagar Police Station. This left the state government with no option, but to provide the details, which exposed the “pathetic state of affairs”.
The report submitted by the Sardarnagar Police Station in compliance with the court’s direction further attracted the judge’s ire.
The report revealed that there were as many as 65 other prisoners like Rathod who were not regularly produced before court as mandated under law. The authorities cited excuses such as cancellation of japta; technical issues affecting video conferencing facilities; and police being busy guarding VIPs. However, the court refused to entertain these excuses and remarked in its order that it is the duty of the state government to comply with the constitutional obligations.
Case details
As per the case details, the accused—Kiran Rathod—was arrested by personnel from Sardarnagar Police Station on December 20, 2016, on charges of murder.
After his bail was rejected by the lower court and he withdrew his petition from the high court, the case was neither committed to the lower court by the state authorities for trial, nor the accused was produced before the court for extension of remand as mandated under CrPC. Till October 2018, Rathod was only produced once before the court in August 2018 through video conferencing.
While counsel for Rathod argued that he is behind bars for over 19 months without being produced before the court or a trial, the counsel for the state government had nothing to argue in this front, which had already irked the court. The court remarked that the prisoner is not concerned with the failure of the state machinery in complying with the mandatory provisions of CrPC and therefore, is entitled to bail.
The court, while releasing Rathod on bail, remarked that no excuses can be entertained for non-observance of the constitutional rights of the prisoner who is not a slave, but a person presumed to be innocent and yet to be tried for the offence.
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