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In the recent case M Kishore v. Inspector of Police, decreed by Justice N. Anand Venkatesh in the Madras High Court, an issue of detention of a prisoner through a prisoner in transit (PT) warrant was addressed.
In the present case, a relief petition was filed by two people whose arrests took place as a result of invoking a PT warrant issued against the petitioners while they were still in custody for another case. They were being released on bail for another case when they were further detained for the present case. They hence moved the Madras HC challenging the inordinate delay of their remand.
Noting these events, the HC was faced with the question of whether a PT warrant has the power of further detention of a person. It was held that a PT warrant solely directs the production of a person who is confined or detained in prison through a lawful order. It was further stated that using a PT order to further detain a person curtails a person’s liberty, therefore violating their fundamental rights. Considering the procedure and provisions under the Code of Criminal Procedure(CrPC), the court laid that where further detention of a person who is already in custody for another issue takes place, the computation of days spent in detention for purposes of issuing a default bail under Section 167(2) is affected.
Hence, the court stated that upon issuance of a PT order, the person must at the earliest be presented at the concerned court. It was held that the misuse of PT orders violates the procedure set through the CrPC and such practices must be stopped immediately in the interest of protecting the letter of the law and the fundamental rights of the persons. In the present case, the remand order against the petitioners was set aside and their release on bail was granted.
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