New Delhi: The Supreme Court today asked the Chhattisgarh High Court to modify in ten days its order directing all trial courts in the state to mandatorily accept copies of Aadhaar card for releasing an accused on bail.
The January 5 order of the high court had created much hue and cry in the Naxal-affected state, as a large number of accused continued to languish in jails despite getting bail, but not getting release warrants due to delay in verification of Aadhaar and revenue records or surety papers by the police.
With the situation aggravating, a Bilaspur district judge wrote a letter to the High Court on January 10 apprising it about the problems being faced due to the January 5 order, including non-grant of bail to those accused even of petty offenses.
The high court had issued the guidelines while dealing with a case in which an advocates clerk had stood surety for an accused to secure bail and fudged the revenue record of another individual by pasting his own picture.
The high court had directed all trial courts to verify the genuineness of the Aadhaar card of the accused and the surety along with the revenue papers within one week of submission. It had directed the trial courts to lodge an FIR if the revenue or surety papers or the Aadhaar card was found to be forged.
It had even warned judicial officers of disciplinary action if no certification is found on the order sheets of the cases, besides directing revenue officers and the Station House Officers to cooperate with the trial court in the course of verification of the records.
The high court took the letter of the district judge on record and instituted another case to deal with the situation. Further hearing of the high court is scheduled on January 29.