‘Compensate those kept in jail for more than term’

October 08, 2016 12:00 am | Updated November 01, 2016 11:39 pm IST - New Delhi:

The country’s largest prison, Tihar Jail, has been asked by the Central Information Commission (CIC) to develop a system of giving compensation to inmates who have been incarcerated for a duration more than their sentence period.

The Commission has also directed the prison authorities to suo moto disclose the process of compensation to such prisoners as part of their obligation under the Right to Information Act.

‘Different treatment’

“Strangely the courts treated the MLA and the common man differently in awarding compensation. A poor prisoner Rudul Shah got Rs. 30,000 for 14 years of extra detention, while an MLA Bhim Singh was given Rs. 50,000 for one day’s false imprisonment. In a recent case, another poor citizen got just Rs. 50,000 for 113 days of imprisonment,” Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu pointed out in his order.

Deciding the plea of one O.P. Gandhi who claimed to have spent four days more than the court order in Tihar, Mr. Acharyulu said he must be paid token compensation by the prison authorities at the rate of Rs. 2,500 per day along with an additional Rs. 1,000 for costs borne by him.

‘Can’t breach

right of prisoners’

“The State is expected to give people-friendly administration. The jail authorities cannot breach the rights of prisoners and refuse remedy. If this educated and courageous appellant had not brought out this issue of extra detention, it would have been not possible for anyone to know the breach of his constitutional and human rights,” he said.

Mr. Acharyulu observed that when the order of remission was issued on August 11, 2014, the appellant should have been released on that day itself. “The authorities knew that the appellant has to be released on that day as per the remission order, yet he was detained till August 15, 2014. He could have been given benefit of four days of remission, if not 15 days. Sanjiv Kumar (Tihar CPIO) contended that though order was given on August 11, 2014, it would come into operation on August 15, 2014, and hence there was no extra detention,” he said.

- PTI

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