Badaiya Mundu vs The State Of Jharkhand
2023 Latest Caselaw 2370 Jhar

             IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
                    Cr. Appeal (D.B.) No.930 of 2023

      Badaiya Mundu                                       ........... Appellant
                                       Versus
      The State of Jharkhand                              .......Respondent.
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CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUJIT NARAYAN PRASAD HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUBHASH CHAND

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For the Appellant : Mr. Baleshwar Yadav, Advocate For the Respondent : Mr. Rajiv Ranjan, Advocate General Mrs. Priya Shrestha, Spl. P.P.

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03/Dated: 19 July, 2023 th

1. Reference may be made to the order dated 14th July, 2023,

whereunder by taking note of the submission made on behalf of the

appellant that the appeal was filed after delay of 429 days but no

concern in this regard was shown by the Jail Authority by filing an

appeal through the Jail within time.

2. This Court taking into the gravity of the issue that why the convict

was not provided with the benefit to file appeal through Jail Authority

has directed for the personal appearance of Secretary, Home, Jail &

Disaster Management, Government of Jharkhand, I.G. Prison,

Government of Jharkhand, Member Secretary, Jharkhand Legal

Services Authority (in short "JHALSA") and Secretary, High Court

Legal Services Authority (in short "HCLSA").

3. All the aforesaid officers are present in the Court.

4. Learned Advocate General appearing for the State has submitted that

so far as the present case is concerned, wherein the convict was

approached by the Jail Authority on the very following date when the

judgment of conviction was communicated to the concerned Jail but

the convict has not chosen to avail the aforesaid benefit, rather he

has opted to engage a counsel of his own choice.

5. The Vakalatnama has also been shown to this Court executed in

favour of a counsel but the appeal could not have been filed.

Thereafter on the strength of fresh Vakalatnama, the instant appeal

has been filed.

6. The learned Advocate General in view of the aforesaid premise has

submitted that in the instant case, all the mechanism has seriously

been observed. He has further submitted that in each and every

case, the mechanism to provide legal aid by filing appeal through Jail

is being observed.

7. This Court, after hearing the State in this regard, is of the view that

the status of the entire Jail of the State of Jharkhand is required to

be perused so as to assess whether any convict is being deprived

from the said benefit. This order is to make the mechanism more

vibrant.

8. Accordingly, let this matter be listed on 17th August, 2023.

9. The personal appearance of Secretary, Home, Jail & Disaster

Management, Government of Jharkhand, I.G. Prison, Government of

Jharkhand, Member Secretary, JHALSA and Secretary, HCLSA are,

hereby, dispensed with.

(Sujit Narayan Prasad, J.)

(Subhash Chand, J.) Rohit Pandey/-