Mumbai, November 09: The Bombay High Court would soon examine a proposal to compensate those who languish in jail for petty offences.
The High Court is currently hearing a PIL on the overcrowding of jails in Maharashtra.
During an earlier hearing, Advocate Yug Chaudhary, appointed as an amicus curiae (friend of the court), had pointed out that in many cases where the offence is punishable only with fine, people are thrown into jail.
Today, Public Prosecutor Pandurang Pol submitted to a Division Bench of Justices J N Patel and Amjed Sayed that now no such prisoners are in the state’s jails.
But Chaudhary proposed that the state should give compensation to those wrongly imprisoned in the past.
The Court then asked Chaudhary to submit a written proposal, and sought the state’s reply to it.
Hearing has been adjourned for two weeks.
–Agencies