'Very Disturbing', Supreme Court Grants Bail To Convict In Jail For 22 Years, Faults Orissa HC For Rejecting Appeal On Delay

The Supreme Court on Thursday (May 7) granted bail to a murder convict who has spent more than 22 years in prison, expressing serious concern over the Orissa High Court's approach while dismissing his criminal appeal solely on the ground of delay without examining the matter on merits. A bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan described the High Court's order as “very disturbing”, observing that the High Court ought to have adopted a practical and sympathetic approach, particularly since the appeal had been filed from jail by a convict already undergoing life imprisonment. The case concerned a petitioner who was convicted in 2006 by the trial court for offences under Sections 302 and 201 IPC and sentenced to life imprisonment. The petitioner later approached the High Court with a criminal appeal challenging his conviction. However, there was a delay of 3157 days, nearly nine years, in filing the appeal. By a brief order dated January 11, 2016, the High Court refused to condone the delay and dismissed the appeal as time-barred. Taking exception to the approach, the Supreme Court observed that the High Court failed to consider that the appeal had been filed through jail authorities and that the petitioner had already undergone over twelve years of incarceration at the time. “The High Court, while declining to condone the delay, ought to have considered the fact that the petitioner was already undergoing sentence past 12 years. The High Court ought to have also considered that it was an appeal through jail. This itself was sufficient for the High Court to take a practical view or rather a sympathetic view of the matter and at least ought to have condoned the delay so as to give one opportunity to the petitioner to argue his criminal appeal on merits. As on date, the petitioner has undergone almost 22 years of sentence.”, the court observed. During the hearing, counsel for the petitioner placed before the Court a conduct certificate issued by the Senior Superintendent of Circle Jail, Koraput, stating that the petitioner's conduct in prison had remained satisfactory throughout his incarceration and that he had never been punished for any jail offence. The Court also noted that the petitioner had never been released even once on parole or furlough during the entire 22-year period of imprisonment. Therefore, considering the peculiar facts of the case, the Court said that remanding the matter to the High Court for hearing the appeal on merits after condoning the delay would now be a “futile exercise.”Invoking its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the Court directed that the petitioner be released on bail upon furnishing a personal bond of Rs. 10,000 to the satisfaction of the Jail Superintendent. “Thus, in exercise of our jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution as an exceptional case, we order that the petitioner be released on bail on the executing a personal bond of Rs.10,000/- to the satisfaction of the Jail Superintendent.”, the court ordered. The Court further directed the District Legal Services Authority, Koraput to assist the petitioner in preparing a representation seeking remission of sentence in accordance with the applicable remission policy. “We direct the District Legal Services Authority, Koraput, State of Odisha to help the petitioner in preparing an appropriate representation, seeking remission of sentence in accordance with the remission policy prevailing at the time of the commission of the offence or any Policy which is beneficial to the petitioner insofar as the remission of sentence is concerned.”, the court said. “We have passed this order keeping in mind the fact that the petitioner is undergoing sentence past 22 years and has not been released even once during this period of 22 years. His jail conduct has also been found to be satisfactory.”, the court statedThe matter is next listed on May 28, 2026 for reporting compliance. Cause Title: ARJUN JANI @ TUNTUN VERSUS STATE OF ORISSACitation : 2026 LiveLaw (SC) 473Click here to download order Appearance: For Petitioner(s) : Ms. Pragati Neekhra, AOR Mr. Aryan Vaibhav Srivastava, Adv. Mr. Kartikay Aggarwal, Adv. For Respondent(s) : Ms. Laxmi, Adv. Mr. K.R. Satapathy, Adv. Mr. Hitendra Nath Rath, AOR

'Very Disturbing', Supreme Court Grants Bail To Convict In Jail For 22 Years, Faults Orissa HC For Rejecting Appeal On Delay

Yash Mittal

The Court noted that the appeal was filed through jail, and the High Court dismissed it sole ground of delay without examining merits.

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'Very Disturbing', Supreme Court Grants Bail To Convict In Jail For 22 Years, Faults Orissa HC For Rejecting Appeal On Delay

Yash Mittal

The Court noted that the appeal was filed through jail, and the High Court dismissed it sole ground of delay without examining merits.

This is a premium content Available exclusively to Our subscribers

INR 1099+GST

Tags

This is a premium content
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