SC awards Rs 11 lakh compensation to convict for 24-day ‘illegal’ detention after parole order

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Rajasthan government to pay Rs 11 lakh in compensation to a convict who remained in prison for 24 days despite an order issued by the High Court directing his release on parole, Bar and Bench reported.

The state cannot continue depriving a person of liberty merely because officials are considering whether they should challenge a judicial order granting parole or not, a bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and AG Masih said.

“The liberty of an individual is not a trivial matter,” the legal news portal quoted the judges as saying.

It also noted that a judicial order directing the release of a person should be complied with unless it is stayed by a superior court, adding that their rights do not diminish merely because they are serving a sentence.

While awarding the convict Rs 11 lakh as compensation for the violation of his personal liberty, the Supreme Court also said that his continued incarceration amounted to illegal detention and entitled him to compensation.

The case

The case pertained to a man named Daudayal who had been convicted by a trial court in 1988 and sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment in connection with a crime in 1967 in Rajasthan, Bar and Bench reported.

He had been accused of unlawful assembly, house trespass...

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