The Gujarat High Court has ordered a compensation of Rs 3 lakh to a youth who was wrongly kept in jail for nearly three years despite being granted bail. The Gujarat High Court has directed the state of Gujarat to pay compensation to a man who was unjustly kept in jail for nearly three years despite a court order in September 1 suspending his sentence and granting him bail back.

The jail authorities told the high court that they were unable to open the file attached to the bail order sent to them by the registry in 2020. Therefore, the person could not be released.

The applicant is 27 years old. He was serving a life sentence in a murder case. He had served a sentence of about 5 years. Meanwhile, the court suspended his sentence and granted him bail. However, inmate Chandanji Takor had to remain in jail for three years despite securing bail as the jail authorities failed to take necessary action.

"It is not a case that the email was not received by the jail authorities. It is the case of the jail authorities that necessary action could not be taken in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, they received the email, but were unable to open the attached file."

A bench of Justices A S Supehia and M R Mengde said, "Taking into account the plight of the applicant, who is in jail despite the order of this court due to the negligence of the jail authorities... We are willing to pay compensation for his illegal imprisonment in jail for almost three years," the bench said.

The court urged the state to urge the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to identify similar cases of delayed release. "We are directing the state to pay a compensation of Rs 14 lakh to him. It will be paid within a period of <> days. The registry is also directed to inform this order to the District Sessions Court, Mehsana," the bench said.

"Considering the gravity of the issue, we consider it appropriate to direct all DLSA to collect data of undertrial prisoners/convicts in whose favour orders for release on bail have been passed but have not been released," the court directed.

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