Bombay HC Directs Release Of Man Incarcerated Despite Completing Sentence Due To Unpaid Fines

Mumbai: The Bombay high Court has directed immediate release of a man, who continues to remain behind bars despite completing his sentence in 14 criminal cases related to house trespassing, mischief and theft in 2019, as he is unable to pay the fine amount. The court noted that to make Sikandar Kale, 30, undergo the entire default sentence for failing to pay the fine amount would amount to travesty of justice.

The HC was hearing a plea filed by Kale seeking reduction of his default sentence. The man was undergoing the default sentence imposed on him in lieu of the fine amount he was ordered to pay by the trial court.

Kolhapur-based Kale was arrested in 2017. He was sentenced to two years in prison in all the cases and his sentence was to run concurrently. The magistrate had also imposed fine in the cases which totaled to Rs 2.65 lakh. In case of default in payment of fine, the magistrate had imposed additional time in prison.

Kale’s plea contended that he had served his sentence but was unable to pay the fine due to poverty, and accordingly he faces a further imprisonment of nine years. Hence, he sought reduction in his default sentence.

The court took note of the fact that Kale belonged to the financially weaker class of the society and that he continues to remain in jail even after completion of his sentence as he has not been able to arrange the fine amount. “If he is directed to undergo the entire default sentence, he will be required to be incarcerated for a further period of nine years, which in our consideration would amount to travesty of justice,” a bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande said on June 27. The detailed order copy was made available on Friday.

The judges reduced the fine imposed in some of the cases and also said that the sentence already undergone by Kale shall be considered as the default sentence for not paying the fine. It observed that Kale deserved to be released in 2020 itself after completing his sentence, however, was still incarcerated due to inability to pay the fine, which “not a small amount but a whopping sum of Rs 2,65,000”.

Directing his immediate release, the HC said, “Justice is not an artificial virtue but it necessarily embraces magnanimity.” It added that the law recognizes the principle that “mercy is reasonable in the time of affliction as clouds of rain in the time of drought”.