New Delhi, July 25
Making a reference to the campaign opposing Mohammed Haneef’s detention in Australia on the charge of supporting a terror group, the Delhi High Court today pulled up subordinate courts for being “insensitive” in granting bail to people accused of minor offences.
A division bench comprising Justices R S Sodhi and H R Malhotra noted that “a lot of hue and cry is being raised in the case of Haneef for human rights violations”, and asked: “Are people living here meaningless? “Is there no human rights for prisoners languishing in jail without sufficient reasons?” the bench questioned, adding that the state had no justification whatsoever to keep a person in jail without reason.
“People accused of committing offences and minor offences are not released on bail. The courts are becoming insensitive. We have become used to prisoners languishing in the jail for years. We care only when the issue is highlighted,” the court said.
The court’s comments came while taking suo moto congnisance of prisoners languishing in prison for minor offences, which had led to overcrowding in Tihar Jail here.
The bench held that this amounted to violation of human rights. It also pointed out that most of those prisoners are people living below the poverty line.
“Show us a single case where a tax-payer is languishing in jail for petty offences. Most of them are poor people and we are hurting them by not providing a decent life and by putting them in jail,” the bench said.
Human rights groups in Australia have launched a concerted campaign seeking Haneef’s release, saying investigators have not been able to provide evidence of his alleged links to terror groups.
The counsel for the Delhi government contended in the court that there has been overcrowding in Tihar Jail because of a rise in offences committed in the capital.
The government also assured the court that new jails would be built to tackle the issue.
The court directed the Delhi government and jail authorities to provide complete data on prisoners held in the prison.
— PTI
