Acting on Supreme Court orders, the Uttar Pradesh government has paid Rs 5 lakh in compensation to a man whose release from prison was delayed despite being granted bail by the apex court.
The man, booked under the state’s anti-conversion law, was granted bail on April 29 but remained lodged in Ghaziabad district jail until June 24—a delay of 28 days.
On June 25, the Supreme Court took strong exception to the delay, ordering the state to compensate the man and submit a compliance report.
On Friday, the state’s counsel informed a bench comprising Justices K V Viswanathan and N Kotiswar Singh that the compensation had been paid—a fact confirmed by the petitioner’s lawyer.
Notably, the Supreme Court had granted the man bail on April 29, with a release order issued by a Ghaziabad trial court only on May 27.
When the court was informed on June 25 that the man had been released just a day prior, it sharply reminded the state that liberty is a “very valuable and precious” constitutional right, pointing out that he had lost 28 days of his freedom over a “trivial non-issue.”
The bench further criticised the delay, which stemmed from the initial bail order not explicitly citing a sub-section under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021.
Meanwhile, the accused had moved a plea seeking modification of the April 29 bail order to specifically mention clause (1) of Section 5 of the 2021 Act. The Supreme Court has now ordered an inquiry by the principal district and sessions judge of Ghaziabad to investigate the cause of the delay.
On June 25, the state’s lawyer explained that the trial court’s May 27 release order had omitted Sub-Section (1) of Section 5, prompting jail authorities to file a correction plea on May 28. As this was not resolved promptly, the man’s release was delayed. His lawyer confirmed he was freed once the order was corrected.
The man had originally been charged under Section 366 (kidnapping or inducing a woman to marry, etc.) of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code, along with Sections 3 and 5 of the 2021 Act (pertaining to religious conversion by force, allurement, fraud, etc.).
The Supreme Court will now examine the findings of the Ghaziabad district judge’s inquiry report on August 25.
(With inputs from PTI)