SAGIR vs STATE (GOVT. NCT OF DELHI) & ANR.

Judgment text excerpt

$~10 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of Decision: 09.04.2025 + W.P.(CRL) 1020/2025 & CRL.M.A. 9694/2025 SAGIR .....Petitioner Through: Ms. Gunjan Sinha Jain, Advocate versus STATE (GOVT. NCT OF DELHI) & ANR. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Amol Sinha, ASC for the State with Insp. Dharmender Kumar and SI H.R. Choudhary, PS Gandhi Nagar CORAM: JUSTICE GIRISH KATHPALIA J U D G M E N T (ORAL) 1. Petitioner has assailed order dated 19.02.2025 of the competent authority from Delhi Prisons, whereby his application for furlough was rejected on the ground that on an earlier occasion, he did not surrender in time. I have heard learned counsel for petitioner and learned ASC, who took me through records. 2. The petitioner, having suffered incarceration for more than twenty years consequent upon conviction for offences under Section 366/376/302/377/511 IPC seeks to be released on first spell of furlough for a period of three weeks. The furlough application of the petitioner was W.P.(CRL) 1020/2025 Page 1 of 3 pages GIRISH Digitally signed by GIRISH KATHPALIA KATHPALIA Date: 2025.04.09 17:59:48 -07'00' Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:NEETU N NAIR Signing Date:09.04.2025 18:46:59 rejected by jail authorities on the ground that his writ petition before the Supreme Court having been dismissed on 01.10.2024, he was directed to surrender immediately but he surrendered with delay of eight days. Therefore, according to the respondent, no furlough can be granted to the petitioner. 3. On the other hand, the petitioner has not denied having surrendered belatedly on the earlier occasion. The petitioner has explained that the writ petition was not dismissed but withdrawn without his instructions by his erstwhile counsel, who did not inform him about the directions to su