Three undertrial prisoners have been released from UP jail by the UP jail superintendent irrespective of Mumbai court’s continuous orders to produce them physically or through video conference. So, the court considered the action of Superintendent as a contempt of court and directed the department to conduct a departmental enquiry against him.
ABOUT THE CASE:
Initially four of them had been arrested in a case of extortion by the RAK Marg Police station in Mumbai on June 2017. Later, MCOCA was invoked followed by the Nasik Arms Haul case in December 2017. Since they were required to be present at the U.P. court for trial in a cheating case they were sent to the UP jail. In the lower court of U.P. they were released since the bail was granted but they are supposed to appear before the Mumbai court for the MCOA case and the same was conveyed to the UP-Jail Superintendent.
ARRESTED UNDER MCOCA:
Four persons had been arrested under extortion case under MCOCA ( Maharashtra Control of Organized Act). The case registered against them required their custody for further proceedings.
COURT ORDERED TO PRODUCE THEM:
In the beginning of the year court has passed two orders in the month of January and February, directing the jail superintendent to produce the four of them either physically or through video conferencing.
SHOW CAUSE NOTICE WAS ISSUED:
Since there was no response from the Superintendent despite of several remainders the judges considered it as a contempt of court action and issued a show cause notice to him for failing to produce them on June 12.
FOUR REDUCED TO ONE:
Out of the four accused namely: Mohammed Salman Anwar Qureshi, Sanjay Suryakant Salunkhe, Wajid Ali Faiz Ali Shah, Amir Rafiq Shaikh alias Langada only Amir Rafiq Sheikh alias Langada was produced on June 16th.
REPLY TO THE SHOW CAUSE:
The Superintendent in his reply to the show cause notice submitted a report where he did not state any information about the other three accused: Mohammed Salman Anwar Qureshi, Sanjay Suryakant and Wajid Ali Faiz
RADIOGRAM SENT ON JAN 28:
A radiogram was sent on January 28th by the superintendent to the court stating that he had released the three accused from the jail between June and July 2022.
COURT’S OBSERVATION ON HIS ACTION:
The court noted the point that the superintendent “was well aware that this MCOCA case registered against them was pending before this court, he released the three accused from jail, instead of producing them before this court or handing over their custody to this court.”
COURT’S DIRECTION TO INSPECTOR GENERAL OF PRISONS:
The court stated that it was a serious action of misconduct on the part of the superintendent for releasing them and it continued that departmental inquiry need to be initiated against him by a competent authority.
The court then directed the inspector general of prisons, Uttar Pradesh, to initiate a departmental inquiry against the jail superintendent.
What Next:
The Inquiry committee will be constituted and if proven guilty he will be punished accordingly for his actions.
