Tripura High Court
Of Bail vs ....] Order Dated 31.03.2023, The ... on 1 May, 2023
Page 1 of 3
HIGH COURT OF TRIPURA
AGARTALA
WP(C)(PIL) No.12/2022
Court on its own motion
VERSUS
The State of Tripura
.........Respondent(s).
For Court on its own motion : None.
For Respondent(s) : Mr. S.S. Dey, Advocate General,
Ms. Ayantika Chakraborty, Advocate.
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR. APARESH KUMAR SINGH
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARINDAM LODH
Order
01/05/2023
Pursuant to the order dated 29.11.2022 a detailed report relating
to prisoners languishing in custody in different jails across the State of
Tripura despite granting of bail due to inability of prisoners to furnish bail
bonds and sureties has been furnished by the Member Secretary, Tripura
State Legal Services Authority, Agartala.
Be it indicated here that a comprehensive direction has been
issued by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Satender Kumar Antil
vrs. Central Bureau of Investigation & another in Miscellaneous
Application No.1849/2021 arising out of Special Leave Petition (Crl.)
No.5191 of 2021 along with other petition by a judgment dated 11.07.2022
as regards category of cases of such under trial prisoners who have not been
released due to inability to furnish bail bonds and sureties.
In SMWP (Criminal) No. 4/2021 [Re Policy Strategy for Grant
of Bail Vs....] order dated 31.03.2023, the Supreme Court has issued the
following directions:
"With a view to ameliorate the problems a number of directions are sought.
We have examined the directions which we reproduce hereinafter with certain
modifications:
"1) The Court which grants bail to an undertrial prisoner/convict would be
required to send a soft copy of the bail order by e-mail to the prisoner through
the Jail Superintendent on the same day or the next day. The Jail
Superintendent would be required to enter the date of grant of bail in the e-
prisons software [or any other software which is being used by the Prison
Department].
2) If the accused is not released within a period of 7 days from the date of
grant of bail, it would be the duty of the Superintendent of Jail to inform the
Secretary, DLSA who may depute para legal volunteer or jail visiting
advocate to interact with the prisoner and assist the prisoner in all ways
possible for his release.
3) NIC would make attempts to create necessary fields in the e-prison
software so that the date of grant of bail and date
of release are entered by the Prison Department and in case the prisoner is not
released within 7 days, then an automatic email can be sent to the Secretary,
DLSA.
4) The Secretary, DLSA with a view to find out the economic condition of the
accused, may take help of the Probation Officers or the Para Legal Volunteers
to prepare a report on the socio-economic conditions of the inmate which may
be placed before the concerned Court with a request to relax the condition (s)
of bail/surety.
5) In cases where the undertrial or convict requests that he can furnish bail
bond or sureties once released, then in an appropriate case, the Court may
consider granting temporary bail for a specified period to the accused so that
he can furnish bail bond or sureties.
6) If the bail bonds are not furnished within one month from the date of grant
bail, the concerned Court may suo moto take up the case and consider
whether the conditions of bail require modification/
relaxation.
7) One of the reasons which delays the release of the accused/ convict is the
insistence upon local surety. It is suggested that in such cases, the courts may
not impose the condition of local surety.""
The Member Secretary, Tripura State Legal Services Authority,
shall furnish an updated report in the light of the directions issued in the
cases of Satender Kumar Antil (supra) and SMWP (Criminal) No. 4/2021
(supra).
Let such updated comprehensive report be submitted by the
Member Secretary, Tripura State Legal Services Authority, within three
weeks.
Let the matter may appear on 23.05.2023.
(ARINDAM LODH), J (APARESH KUMAR SINGH), CJ
Pulak
