Patna HC looking for plan of action to capture 256 prisoners who escaped

The Patna High Court, expressing shock at the "apathy, complacency and nonchalance of the state police machinery" over the 256 accused who escaped from custody and are said to be missing, asked the state government to provide an action plan by March 13 to nab them.

The court also ordered a CBI probe into the escape of one Rajnath Sharma from police custody. He was arrested in connection with a murder case filed at Kataiya police station in Gopalganj district. A bench of Justice Chakrdhari Sharan singh (now Acting Chief Justice) and Justice Rajesh Kumar Verma while deciding a criminal petition filed by one Dhanraj Kumar Rai delivered this judgment on Monday which was recorded on Tuesday.

The petitioner filed a writ petition for habeas corpus (to produce the body) praying for the production of his brother Rajnath, who was taken into police custody on 7 June 2022 and has been missing since then. When the police inquired about his brother, they told the appellant that he had escaped from police custody on the pretext of attending a nature challenge that very night.

The court was surprised to find that despite the alleged escape of the petitioner's brother from police custody, the Gopalganj police did not make any specific attempt to nab the fugitive. In addition, the police intervened only after a criminal complaint was filed. Expressing doubts about the accreditation of the state police, the division bench sought a report on the statistics of fugitives who escaped from police custody.

On January 3, the state police headquarters provided a district chart of 256 accused who had escaped from police custody in Bihar and were missing, of these, 118 were from Patna and Muzaffarpur districts.

The Division Bench observed, "We express concern over the alarming number of cases of persons who, according to the police, have escaped from custody and are still untraceable. We are of the view that the investigation so far carried out by the State Police in the murder, as well as the case of escape of the accused from the Kateya Police Station, does not inspire confidence because their inaction is obvious and not without doubt."

The next hearing on this matter will be on March 13.