SC raps UP jail officials over delay in releasing undertrial

THE COURT SAID IT WAS 'VERY SAD' THAT A PERSON'S LIBERTY WAS CURTAILED FOR A MONTH AFTER GETTING BAIL DUE TO A TRIVIAL TECHNICALITY

- Utkarsh Anand

The Supreme Court has pulled up the Uttar Pradesh prison authorities for delaying the release of a Muslim undertrial, charged under an anti-conversion law, by nearly a month, despite a clear bail order passed by the apex court, calling it "very sad" and "unfortunate" that a person's liberty was curtailed on the basis of a trivial technicality.

A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan lamented that the undertrial continued to remain behind bars for almost a month after being granted bail merely because a sub-clause of a statutory provision was not mentioned in the release order, even though all essential particulars were available.