SC to hear on urgent basis prisoners' pleas sent from jail

New Delhi, Nov 2 (UNI) The Supreme Court from now onwards shall hear on an urgent basis all petitions sent from jail by the prisoners.

The order was passed by a bench comprising Justices S B Sinha and Dalveer Bhandari on October 31, directing the Supreme Court registry to place before the court urgently any special leave petitions forwarded through the officer in-charge of the jail along with certified copy of the judgement and the first listing of the case should not be delayed.

The order came on the petition of Nathu alias Paras Ram, a prisoner in Rajasthan jail, who sent his petition on June 10, 2004 and the record was put up on September 4, 2006.

The apex court ordered an inquiry in the delay of over two years in placing the case before the court for hearing. The registrar (judicial), in his reports, submitted that the delay was caused due to delayed supply of the records of the courts below.

The court, in its order said, ''Rules framed by the court must be read in consonance with the fundamental rights of the prisoners. A prisoner, when sends a petition or an appeal from jail, the same requires immediate attention of the court. The court, while entertaining a special leave petition having regards to the facts and circumstances of the case, may suspend his sentence or allow his prayer for bail. The records of the courts below should be called for only when necessary and not otherwise. Records of the case should not, thus, be called for in a mechanical manner.'' The court also directed that if the records are in vernacular language, the same would be translated into English.

UNI AKS/SC SHB RP DS1540