The Calcutta High Court has directed the West Bengal government to pay ₹5.36 lakh to a tea garden worker who remained behind bars for nearly two months even after securing bail in three criminal cases.
A Division Bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Aryak Dutt held that the man’s continued detention from August 6, 2018 to October 5, 2018 had no legal basis and warranted compensation.
The worker had been granted bail in all three cases and, according to the Court, should have walked out of jail on August 6. Instead, he remained in custody until October 5, when he was finally released.
Seeking his release, the man approached the High Court through a habeas corpus petition. He later sought ₹20 lakh in compensation, pointing to the loss of employment and the mental distress caused by remaining in custody despite having obtained bail.
The State attempted to explain the continued detention by referring to a separate Miscellaneous Record (MR) case. It was claimed that the worker had allegedly violated a bond executed for maintaining peace and therefore had to remain in custody until October 5.
The explanation failed to convince the Court.
The Bench found that the State had not satisfactorily established why the petitioner continued to remain incarcerated after the bail orders in the three criminal cases. His detention during the 60-day period was consequently held to be unlawful.
The Court agreed that compensation was warranted, but did not accept the ₹20 lakh amount sought by the petitioner.
It awarded ₹5 lakh for the unlawful detention and an additional ₹36,000 towards the loss of employment, taking the total compensation to ₹5.36 lakh.
The State has been directed to make the payment within four weeks.
The ruling underlined a basic consequence of a bail order: once a person’s detention is no longer supported by law, administrative lapses or an inadequate explanation cannot justify keeping that person in prison.