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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Monday held that undertrial prisoners cannot be detained in custody for an indefinite period. 

A bench of Justice Amit Mahajan said, "The applicant cannot be made to spend the entire period of trial in custody specially when the trial is likely to take considerable time."

The complainant in the matter had alleged to have been dishonestly induced on the pretext of receiving the insurance policy bonus amount and the insurance gratuity value on the lapsed insurance policies from the year 2013 till date.

He claimed that a group of people had called him from different mobile numbers claiming to be senior officials with the insurance regulatory body. Allegedly, they induced him by stating that the unclaimed insurance amount can be released to the complainant. On the allurement, he deposited a sum of ₹ 80 lakhs during the period 2016 to 2018.

Thereafter, It was found during the investigation that a total sum of ₹ 1 crore 20 lakhs had been transferred in various accounts by the complainant since the year 2015.

The complainant claimed that the accused persons had created fake Email IDs.

The allegations were that the present bail applicant Tarun Dutt had joined the other accused persons – Arvind and Sunil, as a partner in a fake insurance bonus scam and had cheated innocent victims/persons on the pretext of receiving a huge insurance policy bonus.

Dutt was also alleged to be the main caller who induced the complainant and impersonated himself as Senior Director of Income Tax and MCA.

The bench had been informed that the other co-accused has already been released on bail. Whereas, senior counsel appearing for Dutt submitted that Dutt was the employee of the main accused and had been falsely implicated in the case.

The bench referred to the apex court's judgment stating that the Court has to ascertain if the accused satisfies the triple test while considering any application for bail i.e., whether he is a flight risk, the likelihood of tampering with evidence, and influencing of witnesses.

The bench noted that Dutt's case satisfied the triple test. Given this, the corut held that undertrial prisoners cannot be detained in custody for an indefinite period. 

The Court observed: "The maximum punishment for offences alleged against the applicant is seven years and the object of jail is to secure the appearance of the accused persons during the trial. The object is neither punitive nor preventive and the deprivation of liberty has been considered as a punishment."

Considering the above, the bench allowed Dutt on bail on a surety of Rs 50,000 and other conditions.