TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1980 (12) TMI 206
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....an offence is lodged in the jail everyone forgets about him and no one bothers to care what is happening to him. He becomes a mere ticket number-a forgotten specimen of humanity-cut off and alienated from the society, an unfortunate victim of a heartless legal and judicial system which consigns him to long unending years of oblivion in jail. 2. Here is a case where four young boys who are designated as petitioners in the writ petition have been in Pakud sub-jail in Santhal Praganas for a period of about eight years without their trial having made any progress. They all belong to the Paharia Tribe which is admittedly a backward tribe. Two of them were arrested on 26th Nov., 1972 while the other two, on 19th Dec, 1972. The jail record show....
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....cial system which keeps a person in jail for three years without even commencing his trial. But the atrocity does not end here : more is yet to come. Though the trial of the petitioners commenced on 30th August, 1977 it was merely a symbolic commencement, for it never proceeded further and it has not yet made any progress. The petitioners appeared in the Sessions Court on 30th August, 1977 but thereafter, Dr. Vasudha Dhagamwar says, they have not been in Court again. Three more years have passed but they are still rotting in jail, not knowing what is happening to their case. They are perhaps reconciled to their fate, living in a small world of their own cribbed, cabined and confined within the four walls of the prison. The outside world jus....
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....Hussainara Khatoon's case that speedy trial is a fundamental right of an accused implicit in Article 21 of the Constitution, but we notice that in the case of these four petitioners, this fundamental right has merely remained a paper promise and has been grossly violated. It is surprising that these four petitioners should not have been released on bail despite our observations in Hussainara Khatoon's case. Since the trial has not made any progress for the last over eight years, we direct the Sessions Judge, Dumka to take up the case against these four petitioners immediately and to proceed with it from day to day without any interruption. The Sessions Judge Dumka will submit a report to this Court immediately after the disposal of ....
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....and in gross violation of the decision of this Court in Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration 1978 CriLJ 1741 . It is also surprising how the four petitioners could be asked to work outside the jail walls when they are not convicted but merely under-trial prisoners. This would be in flagrant violation of prison regulations and contrary to the I.L.O. Conventions against forced labour. We would like the Superintendent of the Pakud sub-jail to explain as to why he kept the four petitioners in leg irons contrary to the law of the land and exacted work from them when they are merely under-trial prisoners. We direct the Superintendent to immediately remove leg irons from the feet of the four petitioners and to desist from taking work from them so l....