High court steps in to ensure escorts for undertrials

The director general of police, inspector general of police (prisons), deputy commissioner of police (armed forces) and officials of the Bombay high court are going to chalk out a way to deal with the ever-growing problem of scarcity of policemen to escort undertrials to courts because of which cases are being delayed.

A division bench of justices Ranjana Desai and RG Ketkar on Wednesday requested the officials concerned to be present in their chamber on April 20 after court hours with the necessary data regarding how many police vans and policemen are available to escort undertrials to court.

The high court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by an accused Sheikh Abdul Naeem Sheikh who was arrested on May 7, 2007, for his alleged role in the Aurangabad arms haul case.

The letter, written from the Arthur Road jail which was converted into a PIL, states that Sheikh along with 46 other prisoners have not been produced before the court due to lack of escort officers.

An affidavit filed by Arthur Road jail superintendent Rajendra Dhamne said, “On an average around 300 to 400 inmates are taken to courts everyday, while 30 to 40 are produced before the court through video conferencing facility. The request for taking prisoners to court is made two days prior to the court hearing date but police escorts are still not available. We have had several meetings with police officials whom we have to rely on for shifting prisoners. Currently, the number of police escorts is almost 50% less than what is required.”

Public prosecutor PA Pol said, “There is video conferencing facility in most jails but not all courts are connected with the facility. We have to work out a solution to this problem.” The hearing was adjourned till April 20.