Supreme Court comes to the rescue of man languishing in prison despite bail

Supreme Court releases man on bail without local surety after 4 months in jail, citing injustice and constitutional rights.

The Supreme Court set at liberty a man languishing in jail for four months after he got bail from the apex court due to his inability to furnish a local surety on Wednesday (September 18, 2024).

A three-judge Bench headed by Justice Hrishikesh Roy directed the release of Ramchandra Thangappan Aachari, represented by advocates Neha Rathi and Pranav Sachdeva, on bail on his own personal bond without insisting on any local surety.

The Court had originally granted him bail on May 3 this year. Aachari, involved in a POCSO case, had already spent over seven years of his 10-year prison sentence before getting relief of bail in May 2024. However, his inability to find a person to stand surety for him had kept him behind bars in the Kolhapur Central Prison.

“It would be a travesty of justice if the petitioner [Aachari] is unable to secure the benefit of a bail order for his inability to furnish local surety. This will infringe the rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution for the person who continues to be detained despite a bail order in his favour,” the Supreme Court observed.

The State of Maharashtra was represented by advocates Abhikalp Pratap Singh, Siddharth Dharmadhikari and Aaditya Aniruddha Pande.

“The justice delivery mechanism cannot be oblivious to the plight of the indigent convicts who are unable to provide local surety,” the Bench, also comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and SVN Bhatti, noted.