E-Paper
Person can’t be kept in jail indefinitely: Allahabad high court
The court has sought a personal affidavit from the UP director general of police (DGP) asking him to apprise the court as to why the prosecution does not present witnesses on time in serious crimes.
: Granting bail to an accused in a case, the Allahabad high court has said that if the prosecution is not interested in presenting witnesses and completing trial, then a person cannot be kept in jail indefinitely.
The court has sought a personal affidavit from the UP director general of police (DGP) asking him to apprise the court as to why the prosecution does not present witnesses on time in serious crimes.
The court asked that being the head of the police department, what steps have been taken in this direction by him (DGP). Has he fixed the responsibility of the guilty police officer or person in any case, the court further asked.
Hearing the bail plea of one Manoj of Etah, Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh also sought a report from the presiding officer concerned with information about the process followed so far in the trial of the case. Also, it should be told why the trial could not be completed and who is responsible for this, the high court said.
The petitioner approached the high court after his earlier three bail applications were rejected by the district court. The petitioner’s lawyer said that this is his fourth bail application. The petitioner has been in jail since 2017. The lawyer said that in the last seven and a half years, the prosecution has presented only three witnesses and there is no hope of completing the trial of the case in the near future. This is a violation of the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court, he added.
On this, the high court said that it is constantly being seen that even in serious cases, the prosecution does not present the witnesses on time, due to which the trial of many cases is pending.
“If the prosecution is not interested in presenting witnesses and completing the trial, then a person cannot be kept in jail indefinitely,” the court said.
The court in its order dated September 27 has directed the DGP and the presiding officer to submit their reply before passing any order on the bail application.
