Bengal told to pay ₹5 lakh to Nepali man jailed for 41 years without trial
Nepali man, Dipak Joshi was sent back to his country earlier this year after being released from the Dum Dum Central Correctional Home near Kolkata. He was arrested in 1980.
KOLKATA: NEW DELHI: The Calcutta high court on Tuesday ordered the West Bengal government to pay ₹5 lakh to a Nepali citizen who had to spend almost 41 years without trial.
The man, Dipak Joshi, was arrested on May 12, 1980, from Darjeeling district and was released in March 2021 after the high court’s intervention.
“He was arrested on charges of murder under section 302. His trial couldn’t be done as he developed mental problems probably during his stay in the prison. The high court took cognisance of the issue after the matter was brought to its notice,” said Jayanta Narayan Chatterjee, who appeared on behalf of the State Legal Services Authority. A bench of chief justice Prakash Shrivastava and justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj delivered the order.
Joshi was sent back to his country earlier this year through the consulate of Nepal after being released from the Dum Dum Central Correctional Home near Kolkata. He is now staying with his relatives in Nepal.
“On December 7, the counsel for the high court referred to the West Bengal Correctional Services Prisoners (Unnatural Death Compensation) Scheme, 2019 to submit that the maximum compensation payable under the said Scheme is Rs.5 lakhs,” said Chatterjee.
The state government’s counsel, however, did not raise any objections and told the court that the amount may be credited into Dipak Joshi’s account through the consulate of Nepal. The court on Tuesday that the money should be transferred to Joshi’s account within six weeks.