Accused fails to meet bail conditions, stays in jail; HC pulls up Odisha govt

Cuttack: Orissa High Court slammed the state government for its insensitive attitude towards accused, who failed to meet bail conditions for which he had to stay in jail for around five years.

Hearing a plea filed by the accused Sama Kirsani on Wednesday, a high court bench of Justice Indrajit Mohanty and Justice Biswajit Mohanty said that such incident occurred due to lack of sympathy of the government and persons associated with the accused.

Condemning the government, the bench asked it not to repeat such kind of case in future.

According to reports, Sama Kirsani was convicted by Malkangiri Additional Session’s Judge Court in connection with death of Sukra Kirsani in Malkangiri in 2003. He was awarded lifer after he was found guilty of the crime. Challenging the lower court’s verdict, Sama moved the High Court on May 15, 2007.

While the case was in the court, the High Court on Oct 5, 2012 directed the lower court to grant the accused conditional bail. Following the high court’s directive, Malkangiri Additional Session’s Court granted conditional bail to Sama.

However, Sama was not allowed to leave the jail as he failed to meet the bail conditions.

The matter came to fore by the bench while hearing the case on August 28 this year.

The court in its judgment said that Malkangiri sub-jail superintendent and others could have taken appropriate steps for changing the conditions made by the lower court.

The bench was also surprised to know that how the matter did not come into notice of the district judge during jail inspection.