Nashik resident Mohammed Ismail Shaikh was sentenced to five years’imprisonment for subjecting his wife to cruelty and abetting her suicide in 1995. But he has spent nearly 10 years behind bars.
A convict, who was illegally detained for nearly five years more than his sentence, has approached the Bombay high court seeking compensation of Rs25 lakh from the state government.
Nashik resident Mohammed Ismail Shaikh was sentenced to five years’imprisonment for subjecting his wife to cruelty and abetting her suicide in 1995. But he has spent nearly 10 years behind bars.
A division bench of Justice BH Marlapalle and Justice UD Salvi admitted Shaikh’s petition on Friday and expedited the hearing.
The Deonar police arrested Shaikh in January 1995 for abetting his wife Shehnaz’s suicide and subjecting her to cruelty. He soon got out on bail. Later, he was arrested twice because he failed to appear before the court. He again was released on bail on December 2002. By then he had spent four years and one month behind bars.
Out on bail, he was arrested by the Delhi police in connection with a murder case there. Though he was acquitted by the sessions court there, he spent two years and 11 months in jail in Delhi, said his advocate Prakash Wagh.
When the trial in his wife’s abetment to suicide case commenced in September 2008, the judge found him guilty and sentenced him to five years’ rigorous imprisonment in November 2008.
Wagh said his client had made a representation to the high court to set off his pre-trial detention against his sentence. He even sought that his detention by the Delhi police be taken into consideration.
However, the request was turned down by the registrar of the sessions court on April 2010.
He was finally released on August 28, 2010. By that time he had already spent nearly 10 years behind bars — five years more than his sentence.
He then filed a petition in the high court through Wagh seeking compensation for his illegal detention. Wagh said his client has also sought action against the jail, government authorities and staff of the sessions court for dereliction of duty.
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