The Supreme Court on Thursday granted bail to a murder convict from Odisha who has spent more than 22 years in prison without ever being released on parole or furlough, while criticising the Orissa High Court for dismissing his criminal appeal on the ground of delay.
Supreme Court's Observations
Terming the order “disturbing”, a two-judge bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and Ujjal Bhuyan said the high court should have adopted a “practical view or rather a sympathetic view” while dealing with the appeal filed through jail authorities. This is the second time in a week that the Supreme Court has pulled up courts in Odisha. On Monday, the apex court had declared ‘null and void’ the bail conditions imposed by courts requiring accused to clean police stations, terming it ‘cruel’.
Background of the Case
In August 2006, Arjun Jani alias Tuntun was convicted by an additional sessions court in Nabarangpur of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. His criminal appeal before the Orissa High Court was delayed by 3,157 days — nearly nine years. Refusing to condone the delay, on January 11, 2016, the high court said, “From the jail memo of appeal, we do not find any viable reason to condone the delay of about nine years. Delay condonation application is dismissed and appeal too stands dismissed.”
High Court's Approach Criticized
Setting aside the harsh approach, the Supreme Court observed that the high court should have “taken a practical view or rather a sympathetic view of the matter and at least ought to have condoned the delay so as to give one opportunity to the petitioner to argue his criminal appeal on merits.” However, the bench noted that reopening the appeal now would serve little purpose as the convict had already spent over two decades behind bars. “In such circumstances... condoning the delay and asking the High Court now to hear the Criminal Appeal on merits will be a futile exercise,” the Supreme Court said.
Conduct Certificate and Bail Order
The bench relied heavily on a conduct certificate issued by the senior superintendent of Circle Jail, Koraput, which described the prisoner’s conduct as “satisfactory” and noted that “nothing adverse report/remark” had ever been recorded against him. Invoking its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court ordered that Jani should be released on bail. The court directed his release on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 and asked the District Legal Services Authority, Koraput, to assist him in filing a remission plea. The matter has been posted to May 28 for compliance reporting.
