Accused loses 3 years of freedom due to an email

A murder accused, initially granted bail in 2020, served prison time for three more years. The reason behind this is that the jail authorities failed to open the email sent to them containing the court’s bail order.

As fictitious as it may sound but this happened and which is why the Gujarat High Court ordered the state to grant him ₹1 lakh in compensation on Sept 26 over the authorities’ lapse.

Gujarat High Court’s bail order not opened by jail authorities

Serving his life sentence, murder accused Chandanji Thakor was granted bail in Sept 2020 by the Gujarat HC.

As per the jail authorities, the inability to access the court’s bail order sent by email due to the then ongoing COVID-19 pandemic led to Thakor serving three more years in prison.

Guj HC slams the responsible bodies

Slamming the jail authorities, which are responsible for this lapse, the Gujarat high court’s two-judge bench, comprising justices AS Supehia and MR Mengdey, ordered the state to compensate the 27-year-old Thakor with ₹1 lakh. The court has directed the state to pay the amount within 14 days.

The high court, adding to the matter, said that the court registry had clearly informed the jail authorities about the release of the petitioner on regular bail. It was not that the jail authorities did not receive such an email. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the court approved the bail application through email. However, despite receiving the email, the jail authorities were unable to open it.

The court added that “this case is an eye-opener”. The two-judge bench further raised questions at the district court and the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), which also failed to overlook the convict’s release being implemented.

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