The Karnataka High Court on Saturday directed the Deputy Inspector General of Prisons to straighten out the functioning of the jail after it noticed that the accused had not been produced, even through video conferencing, before the jurisdictional judge for the last four years, who despite being granted bail, was languishing in jail as he was unable to provide security as per the bail condition.
The court observed that the Magistrate concerned had issued non-bailable warrants (NBW) against the accused due to his non-production. And strangely the head constable of HAL police station sent a message to the magistrate that NBW could not be executed as the accused was not traceable even though he was languishing in jail for the last four years.
Send a message
The court directed KC Divyashree, DIG-Prisons to identify all similarly placed accused persons who have not been produced before the Magistrate of the concerned jurisdiction in the last six months, take necessary steps to ensure that such incidents do not recur and submit a report to the court by March 6.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order on the petitions filed by Imran alias Kulla, 28, a resident of Islampura, Bengaluru.
Para-legal volunteers
Ms. Divyashree had earlier told the court that the prison authorities had increased the number of volunteers with paralegal rights to provide free legal services to poor inmates in the penitentiary and a process was underway to review the inmates who had not been produced before the jurisdictional courts for the last six months.
The petitioner has contested two criminal cases, both registered at the HAL police station, which are pending against him, besides seeking his release from jail on the ground that his detention is illegal as he has not been produced before the court at regular intervals as per law.
The court expressed shock at the behavior of the police head constable who, sitting in the cells at the HAL police station and without attempting to execute the NBW, sent a message that the accused was “untraceable” when the accused was in custody for the last four years for another offense registered at the same police station.
The court summoned Deputy Commissioner of Police (Whitefield Division) Saidulu Adavath and directed him to initiate a ministerial inquiry against the senior constable and submit an action taken report to the court by March 6.
A request for consideration
The court said it will next week consider the petitioner’s application for release on bail already granted by waiving the bail condition for the provision of surety after his lawyer pointed out that the petitioner is from an economically disadvantaged background and could not provide surety as directed by the trial court when granted bail.
Published – 21 Feb 2026 20:42 IST
