Key Points

The matter pertains to Sohan Singh alias Bablu, who was tried in 2004 before the Sessions Judge in District Sagar’s Khurai on charges under Sections 376 (rape), 450 (house-trespass) and 506-B (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment with a fine of Rs 2,000.

The conviction was challenged before the Madhya Pradesh High Court through a criminal appeal. In October 2007, the high court partly allowed his appeal and modified the sentence.

"Looking at the overall circumstances and evidence on record, in our opinion, it would be just and proper if the sentence awarded by the trial court for commission of offence punishable under section 376 of IPC be reduced to 7 years," the Madhya Pradesh High Court had ordered. It further directed that the appellant "shall remain in jail to serve the remaining part of his jail sentence".

However, despite the reduction of his sentence to seven years, Sohan Singh languished for an additional 4.7 years in prison and was belatedly released only on bail despite having already served his full term.

When the matter reached the top court, a bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice K.V. Viswanathan had observed that "the facts of this case are quite shocking".

Expressing deep concern, the Justice Pardiwala-led Bench had recorded: "Although the High Court partly allowed the appeal by reducing the sentence of life imprisonment to 7 years of rigorous imprisonment, the petitioner came to be released from jail only on 6-6-2025. We would like to know how such a serious lapse occurred and why the petitioner remained in jail for more than 8 years even after undergoing the entire sentence of seven years."

"We want the State to offer an appropriate explanation in this regard. We grant two weeks’ time to the state to file an appropriate reply to the aforesaid," the apex court observed in an order passed on August 22.

On Monday, after considering the state government’s explanation that the appellant suffered only 4.7 years of extra incarceration, the Supreme Court held that the petitioner’s illegal detention constituted a grave violation of his fundamental right to personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The Justice Pardiwala-led Bench, therefore, directed the Madhya Pradesh government to pay him Rs 25 lakh as compensation.

It further asked the Madhya Pradesh State Legal Services Authority to identify if there are other similarly placed prisoners who may have been wrongfully detained beyond their sentence.

- IANS