Full Judgment Text
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* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
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Date of decision: 22 May, 2026
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Uploaded on: 27 May, 2026
+ W.P.(CRL) 673/2024
COURT ON ITS OWN MOTION .....Petitioner
Through: Mr. Puneet Mittal, Sr. Adv. (Amicus
Curiae) with Mr. R.P. Singh, Adv.
versus
DIRECTOR GENERAL OF PRISONS, GOVT OF
NCT OF DELHI .....Respondent
Through: Mr. Amol Sinha, ASC (Crl.) with Mr.
Kshitiz Garg, Adv. (M: 9999936804).
Mr. Sushil Raja for UIDAI
CORAM:
JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH
JUSTICE AMIT MAHAJAN
Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral)
1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.
2. The present Suo Motu petition has been registered further to the
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directions passed by the ld. Single Judge vide order dated 19 February, 2024
for considering the issue of delay at the instance of the Jail Superintendent in
accepting bail bonds.
3. The brief facts leading up to the said reference are that vide order dated
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8 February, 2024, the Court had suspended the sentence of the Petitioner in
Crl.Rev.P. 1362/2023 . The said Petitioner was directed to be released on bail
subject to certain conditions, inter alia, furnishing of bail bond to the
satisfaction of the Jail Superintendent.
4. Thereafter, an application came to be filed by the said Petitioner
seeking modification of the conditions for bail to the extent that the Petitioner
had been directed to furnish bail bonds to the satisfaction of the Jail
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W.P.(CRL) 673/2024 Page 1 of 9
Digitally Signed
By:DHIRENDER KUMAR
Signing Date:27.05.2026
15:00:18
Superintendent, since the Petitioner had not been released even after a week
since passing of the bail order.
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5. The said application was considered on 19 February, 2024 and the ld.
Single Judge took serious note of the delay in release of prisoners on bail at
the instance of the Jail Superintendent. Accordingly, the ld. Single Judge had
directed the matter be registered as Suo Motu petition. The relevant extract of
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the order dated 19 February, 2024 reads as under:
“ 5. The object of granting bails and suspending
sentences is to release the accused/convict from
imprisonment. In certain cases, interim bails are
granted on medical grounds or some other exigencies,
as expressed by the applicant. In such a scenario this
Court fails to understand why the period of one to two
weeks be taken by the Jail Superintendent for accepting
the bail bonds .
[…]
9. Any order passed by this Court thereby directing the
release of the prisoner from jail is sent directly to the
concerned jail authorities through FASTER cell.
10. The Court while passing bail order at times directs
that the Bails bond be directly furnished to the Jail
Superintendent. The prisoner is not remitted to the Trial
Court in order to facilitate the immediate release.
11. The delay at the instance of the Jail Superintendent
in accepting Bail Bonds is not acceptable to the
conscience of this Court. Let the matter be registered as
Sou Motu petition and numbered.
12. Let notice of the present petition be issued to the
Director General of Prisons and Standing Counsel
(Criminal), Government of NCT of Delhi.
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W.P.(CRL) 673/2024 Page 2 of 9
Digitally Signed
By:DHIRENDER KUMAR
Signing Date:27.05.2026
15:00:18
13. Ms. Nandita Rao, learned Additional Standing
Counsel, who is present in Court, disputes the aforesaid
position. She submits that the petitioner’s case is
possibly an aberration and delay normally does not
occur on the part of the Jail Superintendent.
14. She is requested to accept notice in the present case
and file an appropriate affidavit.”
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6. Thereafter, vide order dated 7 March, 2024, the matter had been
referred to be listed before an appropriate Bench. Accordingly, the matter has
been considered by this Court on several dates.
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7. Further to the order dated 20 March, 2026, Mr. Amol Sinha, ld. ASC
has placed before the Court a status report dated 9th April, 2026 containing
the data relating to 117 under trials/convicts who were released on interim
bail between 1st February, 2026 to 15th February, 2026.
8. A perusal of the above data would show that on an average one to two
weeks from the date of bail order are required by Jail Superintendent for
verifying details. Further, prima facie, it appears that the average time
between release of convicts/under trials after bail orders are granted is approx.
five to six days. In several cases, the person has been released after one day
itself, whereas, in some cases, the delay is as much as thirty-three days or
fifty-six days as well. It is stated that factors such as inter-state verification
requirements, response time of the concerned police station and verification
of financial instruments furnished by surety, contribute towards the time
consumed for verification.
9. The above data is extremely useful for this Court to understand the
manner in which bail orders are being processed and the period that has been
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W.P.(CRL) 673/2024 Page 3 of 9
Digitally Signed
By:DHIRENDER KUMAR
Signing Date:27.05.2026
15:00:18
consumed in release of the convicts/under trials after bail orders are passed.
10. It is submitted by Mr. Sinha, ld. ASC, under instructions from Mr.
Lamba, DCP (Legal), Delhi Police, that earlier when the bail orders were
passed directing furnishing of bond/surety to the satisfaction of the concerned
Jail Superintendent, all the verification of the credentials of the surety had to
be done physically by sending police personnel to the bank or to the Surety’s
address, etc. It is submitted that nowadays, however, insofar as banks are
concerned, whenever any FD or surety amount is furnished by the Surety from
any bank, upon email verification being sought from the bank, the responses
are being received in a prompt manner. For the sake of completeness, the
relevant position of the status report dated 9th April, 2026, which mentions
the present verification process is extracted hereunder:
“ 6. It is submitted that the process/mechanism adopted for
verification is as follows:
a. Verification of surety is the onus of the Police
Department. Whenever a bail order with direction of
“furnishing surety to the satisfaction of Jail
Superintendent” is issued, instrument of surety amount
(FD) and identity certification of the proposed surety are
obtained.
b. Immediately thereafter, wireless message and letter for
address verification of the surety addressed to the
concerned police station as well as the office of the
concerned Deputy Commissioner are forwarded in
addition to a letter for verification of the instrument of
surety amount forwarded to the Branch Manager of the
concerned Bank.
c. If the concerned Bank Branch is located in Delhi, an
official is deputed to visit the Branch and have the
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W.P.(CRL) 673/2024 Page 4 of 9
Digitally Signed
By:DHIRENDER KUMAR
Signing Date:27.05.2026
15:00:18
instrument of surety verified. All the mentioned letters and
messages are forwarded through electronic mode as well
as physical mode.
7. It is further submitted that the verification process
involves coordination between multiple authorities
including the Jail Authorities, local police stations, the
office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police and the
concerned banks.
8. The verification is undertaken through a combination of
electronic communication, including official emails and
wireless messages, as well as physical correspondence.
Any delay, where it occurs, is largely attributable to the
time taken by the concerned external agencies in
responding to such verification requests. ”
11. Further, on 20th March, 2026, the Court had put forth a specific query
to Mr. Sushil Raja, ld. Counsel for UIDAI, as to whether upon receiving an
email from DCP (Legal), Delhi Police, UIDAI can confirm the genuinity of
the Aadhar card of either the accused, convict or surety. The Court had
requested Mr. Raja, ld. Counsel and the CEO, UIDAI to assist the Court in
this regard on the next date.
12. Today, on behalf of the UIDAI, Mr. Sanjeev Yadav, Director
(Technical) has appeared virtually before the Court along with Mr. Himanshu
Dabral, Manager (Legal). They appear with Mr. Raja, ld. Counsel. It is the
submission of UIDAI that insofar as the UIDAI is concerned, an approval has
been given by UIDAI to the Ministry of Home Affairs for verifying the
Aadhar cards of prisoners and the relatives who come to have mulakats
(visits). It is stated that this position has been implemented in all the jails
across the country to enable verification of persons easier and quicker. In
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W.P.(CRL) 673/2024 Page 5 of 9
Digitally Signed
By:DHIRENDER KUMAR
Signing Date:27.05.2026
15:00:18
addition, it is submitted that the Punjab & Haryana High Court in CRM-M
No. 49429/2023 titled Sharanjit Singh@Suraj vs. State of Punjab and
connected matters has passed an order dated 10th May, 2024 wherein it is
directed that after setting up the necessary technical infrastructure and making
appropriate application under Rule 4 of the Aadhaar Authentication for Good
Governance (Social Welfare, Innovation, Knowledge) Rules, 2020, the
services for verification of surety shall be set up in all Court premises within
Punjab and Haryana.
13. In view of the above, the Court’s query is as to how the directions
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passed in the judgment dated 10 May, 2024 passed by the ld. Single Judge
of the Punjab and Haryana High Court is being implemented. In this regard,
Mr. Sanjeev Yadav, seeks some time to respond to the Court’s query.
14. A perusal of the judgement in Sharanjit (supra) , would show that
similar directions have also been passed by the Karnataka High Court in W.P.
No. 6723/2023 titled UIDAI vs. Narayana B. & Ors. vide order dated 3rd
October, 2023.
15. At this stage, Mr. Dabral has also pointed out to the Court that there are
certain mobile phone applications which are available on the Google
Playstore and App Store, wherein by scanning the QR code available on any
Aadhar Card, the credentials of the concerned person can be verified
immediately. He has assured the Court that these applications are run by the
UIDAI. Mr. Dabral has also illustratively shown to the Court how the same
can be done with the help of one such application.
16. The UIDAI website also provides more information on this aspect
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W.P.(CRL) 673/2024 Page 6 of 9
Digitally Signed
By:DHIRENDER KUMAR
Signing Date:27.05.2026
15:00:18
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under the heading of Secure QR Code Readers . The verification process
through the use of such applications has been shown on the said website as
under:
17. It is quite clear that apart from the mobile number and the email address
which is redacted, the remaining demographic details, i.e., photographs,
name, date of birth, gender and address of the person, are easily visible
through the application itself.
18. Under these circumstances, while the Court would be considering the
directions that are to be passed in this matter after having the benefit of
UIDAI’s response to its queries, in the interregnum , it would be expedient to
pass certain interim directions. Accordingly, henceforth, in order to expedite
the verification of sureties and completion of formalities in respect of bail
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Accessible at: https://uidai.gov.in/en/ecosystem/authentication-devices-documents/qr-code-reader.html
Signature Not Verified
W.P.(CRL) 673/2024 Page 7 of 9
Digitally Signed
By:DHIRENDER KUMAR
Signing Date:27.05.2026
15:00:18
orders, all Jail Superintendents across Delhi shall undertake the following
steps:
i. The verification of the sureties and related credentials may be
done by scanning of the Secure QR Code on their Aadhar Card
through following applications:
(a) Aadhaar QR scanner app
(b) mAadhaar App
(c) Aadhaar App
For ease of reference, the application icons of each of the said
applications as available on the Google Play Store is as under:
After obtaining the said details from the above Apps and any
further details provided by the under-trial or convict, if further
verification is needed, the same would be undertaken in an
expeditious manner.
ii. For the purpose of verification of any FD or any other monetary
instrument issued by the Bank, the Jail Superintendent shall
continue to do it through email and the concerned
banks/financial institutions shall respond to the same promptly.
iii. If necessary the Jail Superintendents are also free to
communicate this order to the Banks whenever they are seeking
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W.P.(CRL) 673/2024 Page 8 of 9
Digitally Signed
By:DHIRENDER KUMAR
Signing Date:27.05.2026
15:00:18
verification of any FD or monetary instrument for the purpose of
verifying the surety.
19. Let the UIDAI file a short affidavit setting out the manner in which the
approval has been given to the Ministry of Home Affairs is being
implemented across all jails in the country. The affidavit shall also set out the
manner in which the directions given by the Punjab and Haryana High Court,
as also the Karnataka High Court, are being implemented in the respective
trial Courts for authentication/ verification through Aadhar.
20. Today’s order be communicated to the Director General (Prisons)
through Mr. Amol Sinha, ld. ASC for necessary information and compliance.
The D.G. (Prisons) shall communicate the same to all Jail Superintendents in
Delhi.
21. Copy of this order be communicated by the Registry to the Reserve
Bank of India through Mr. Ramesh Babu, ld. Counsel on his mobile number
(9971671294) for further communication to all Banks of the directions passed
today.
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22. List for further hearing on 14 August, 2026.
PRATHIBA M. SINGH
JUDGE
AMIT MAHAJAN
JUDGE
MAY 22, 2026
ab/msh
Signature Not Verified
W.P.(CRL) 673/2024 Page 9 of 9
Digitally Signed
By:DHIRENDER KUMAR
Signing Date:27.05.2026
15:00:18