Allahabad High Court directed the jailer who refused to release a prisoner due to discrepancy in name in release order, to show cause why departmental inquiry may not be recommended against him. The single judge bench of Justice JJ Munir observed that the applicant was illegally deprived of his liberty without any just or reasonable cause due to “obstinate attitude of the jail administration”.
The application was filed by the accused whereby it was submitted that the high court had granted him bail on April 9, 2020 but he was still not released from jail. The reason being that there was discrepancy in the name in the release order sent by the court and the name of the accused in the remand sheet. The name mentioned in the release order, as per the cause title of the case was “Vinod Baruaar” whereas the name on the remand sheet with the jail authorities was “Vinod Kumar Baruaar”, basically it was missing the middle name.
Since the Jail Superintendent refused to let go off that small technicality, the applicant approached the trial court for correction of the name but the trial judge refused to correct the name in the release order.
The court held that that the conduct of the “Jailer/Jail Superintendent, whoever has refused to release the applicant, Vinod Baruaar, is not only reprehensible, but also contumacious”.
The court further held that, “This Court fails to understand that when the applicant’s name mentioned in the bail rejection order is “Vinod Baruaar”, then why “Kumar” must be added to the name mentioned in the bail order, in order to make it effectual. This kind of a trifling of mistake pointed by the Jail Authorities must invite severe punishment, unless there is a serious doubt or dispute about the identity of the applicant.”
The court observed that the applicant was illegally deprived of his liberty without any just or reasonable cause due to “obstinate attitude of the jail administration”. “This illegal deprivation of liberty is patently an illegal confinement and that too, during these perilous CoViD-19 times,” observed the court.
The court went ahead and rejected the application and ordered that the applicant “Vinod Baruaar, with that name, shall be forthwith released upon a release order to be passed by learned Special Judge (Rape and POCSO Act Cases), Court No. 2, Siddharthnagar within the time period of 24 hours, in terms of the bail order dated 09.04.2020 passed by this Court.”
The court also ordered the Jailer to forthwith release the applicant, without raising any objection about absence of “Kumar” to his name and also directed the that a compliance report be filed the very next day and also asked the Jail Superintendent/Jailer, to appear before the court “and explain why appropriate departmental inquiry may not be recommended against him”.
The court considered the compliance report wherein it was mentioned that the applicant was released and also an explanation was furnished for non-compliance with this Court’s order. The court “reluctantly accepted” the same and warned the Jail Superintendent to be careful in future.
The complete order may be read here.
Related:
Supreme Court upholds Allahabad HC’s order quashing Dr. Kafeel Khan’s detention
Allahabad HC protects man booked under UP ‘love jihad’ law
Change of name is a facet of freedom of expression: Allahabad HC