Tripura High Court
Court On Its Own Motion vs The State Of Tripura on 1 May, 2023
Author: Arindam Lodh
Bench: Arindam Lodh
Page 1 of 5
HIGH COURT OF TRIPURA
AGARTALA
WP(C)(PIL) No.14/2022
Court on its own motion
VERSUS
The State of Tripura
.........Respondent(s).
For Court on its own motion : None.
For Respondent(s) : Mr. S.S. Dey, Advocate General,
Ms. Ayantika Chakraborty, Advocate.
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR. APARESH KUMAR SINGH HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARINDAM LODH Order 01/05/2023 The present public interest litigation was instituted in view of the directions passed by Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Satender Kumar Antil vrs. Central Bureau of Investigation & another in Miscellaneous Application No.1849/2021 arising out of Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No.5191 of 2021 along with other petition dated 11.07.2022.
The Coordinate Bench of this Court presided over by the then Hon'ble Chief Justice vide order dated 21.09.2022 had issued directions upon the Registrar General of this Court to seek information from all the District & Sessions Judges of the respective districts of the State of Tripura detailing therein the period of custody of each of the Under Trial Prisoners and the provisions of law under which their custody has been directed and Page 2 of 5 also to see whether any of these persons come under the category as per the decisions in Bhim Singh vrs. Union of India & others reported in (2015) 13 SCC 605 or not. In all such cases, the learned District & Sessions Judges and the trial Courts were asked to consider each case on its own merit under the mandate vested under Section 436A of the Cr.P.C. and take necessary steps in that regard as per the directions of the Apex Court in Bhim Singh (supra).
Learned Advocate General was also directed to request the Public Prosecutors of all the districts as well as the officials to cooperate in the matter and the prison authorities of the State to provide all necessary details of the period for which the UTPs are in custody to the respective Courts.
Such details have been received and collated by the learned Registrar General of this Court pursuant to the order dated 15.11.2022. The report is at Flag-X which reads as under:
"The report as asked for is as follows:
1. District & Sessions Judge, West Tripura, Agartala:-
As per report of the District Judge, West Tripura, Agartala there are in total 47 numbers of UTPs in the district. However, no report has been given regarding any of the UTPs to have come under the mandate of 436A of CrPC, that is none of the UTPs is reported to have served more than half of the maximum punishment of the offence for which they are charged with. (Report enclosed at Flag-A)
2. District & Sessions Judge, Dhalai, Ambassa:- As per report of the District Judge, Dhalai, Ambassa there are in total 32 numbers of UTPs in the district and the highest period of Page 3 of 5 detention amongst them is 03 years 03 months and 15 days. However, no report has been given regarding any of the UTPs to have come under the mandate of 436A of CrPC, that is none of the UTPs is reported to have served more than half of the maximum punishment of the offence for which they are charged with. (Report enclosed at Flag-B)
3. District & Sessions Judge, Sepahijala, Sonamura:-
As per report of the District Judge, Sepahijala, Sonamura there are in total 38 numbers of UTPs in the district and the highest period of detention amongst them is 02 years 06 months and 20 days. However, no report has been given regarding any of the UTPs to have come under the mandate of 436A of CrPC, that is none of the UTPs is reported to have served more than half of the maximum punishment of the offence for which they are charged with. (Report enclosed at Flag-C)
4. District & Sessions Judge, Belonia, South Tripura:-
As per report of the District Judge, Belonia, South Tripura there are in total 09 numbers of UTPs in the district and the highest period of detention amongst them is 01 year 02 months and 02 days. However, no report has been given regarding any of the UTPs to have come under the mandate of 436A of CrPC, that is none of the UTPs is reported to have served more than half of the maximum punishment of the offence for which they are charged with. (Report enclosed at Flag-D)
5. District & Sessions Judge, Dharmanagar, North Tripura:- The District & Sessions Judge reported that on receipt of the above said order he has done the exercise of finding out such UTPs who may come under the purview of Page 4 of 5 Section 436A of CrPC and found that there is no such case pending. (Report enclosed at Flag-E)
6. District & Sessions Judge, Khowai:- As per report of the District Judge, Khowai there are in total 81 numbers of UTPs in the district. However, no report has been given regarding any of the UTPs to have come under the mandate of 436A of CrPC, that is none of the UTPs is reported to have served more than half of the maximum punishment of the offence for which they are charged with. (Report enclosed at Flag-F)
7. District & Sessions Judge, Unakoti, Kailashahar:-
As per report of the District Judge, Unakoti, Kailashahar there are in total 34 numbers of UTPs in the district and the highest period of detention amongst them is 802 days. However, no report has been given regarding any of the UTPs to have come under the mandate of 436A of CrPC, that is none of the UTPs is reported to have served more than half of the maximum punishment of the offence for which they are charged with. (Report enclosed at Flag-G)
8. District & Sessions Judge, Udaipur, Gomati Tripura:- As per report of the District Judge, Udaipur, Gomati Tripura there are in total 09 numbers of UTPs in the district. However, no report has been given regarding any of the UTPs to have come under the mandate of 436A of CrPC, that is none of the UTPs is reported to have served more than half of the maximum punishment of the offence for which they are charged with. (Report enclosed at Flag-H)"
Page 5 of 5Vide order dated 29.11.2022, learned Registrar General was again directed to obtain a detailed report from the State Legal Services Authority for supplementing the report filed by the Registrar General of this Court.
The Member Secretary, Tripura State Legal Services Authority, has submitted a report which is through letter dated 09.12.2022 at Flag-A. It only encloses the detailed report furnished by the Secretary of District Legal Services Authority of all the 8(eight) districts.
The Member Secretary, Tripura State Legal Services Authority, is directed to compile the reports received from the concerned District Legal Services Authorities and update it with the latest information as to the status of custody of all under trial prisoners within the mandate of Section 436A of the Cr.P.C. within a period of 2(two) weeks.
Let a comprehensive and updated report be furnished by the Member Secretary, Tripura State Legal Services Authority, by the next date.
Let the matter may appear on 16.05.2023.
(ARINDAM LODH), J (APARESH KUMAR SINGH), CJ Pulak