The Sabarmati Redemption? Gujarat High Court allows case against 24 prisoners who attempted to escape by digging a tunnel

The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday allowed the State to proceed against 24 prisoners who attempted to escape Sabarmati Central Prison in 2013 by digging a tunnel nearly 200 feet long. [State of Gujarat v. Hafizhusain @ Adnan @Jaid Tajjudin Goshmohiddin Mulla Tajuddin Mulla & 23 others].14 of the prisoners were previously convicted for the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts, in which 56 people had died..Justice Vaibhavi Nanavati said that a prima facie case was made out against the 24 prisoners, and said,"The accused could not have been discharged from the charges and the allegations levelled against them, at this stage, without examining the evidence as regards the 'State Prisoner'. The Sessions Court could not have held at this stage i.e. at the prima facie stage, when the charge is to be framed under Section 227 of the Criminal Procedure Code that the accused are not State Prisoners.".The Court was dealing with a special criminal application filed by the State challenging the April 16, 2016 order passed by Ahmedabad Sessions Court discharging all 24 prisoners in the case against them for digging the tunnel, which is now infamously known as the Surangkand.As per the prosecution, on an inspection carried out in February 2013, a jail officer came across a tunnel that was dug up halfway, leading outside to a jungle outside the jail. Subsequently, a first information report (FIR) was registered against 24 prisoners.Besides other charges, Section 130 (aiding escape of, rescuing or harbouring such prisoner) of the Indian Penal Code was invoked on the ground that 14 of the prisoners were facing charges of waging war against the State and other terror charges. Thus, it was contended that they were all State Prisoners.The Sessions Court had discharged the prisoners on the ground that Section 130 could not be invoked against them since they did not fall under the definition of 'State Prisoners'. The State subsequently approached the High Court in appeal..After hearing the prosecution arguments, the Court gathered that the accused are well-educated and some of them had Engineering and MBA degrees.On how the prisoners prepared for their escape from Sabarmati Central Prison, the Court noted,"...accused No.1 (Hafizhusain) was the Civil Engineer, who took the measurement from the distance from jail to outside jail and planned as to how long and deep the tunnel would be. It is further alleged that all the other accused got the equipment to dig-up the tunnel, cover it up if any jail officer visited, distract them etc., and to understand the technique of digging up the tunnel where the accused had got four books from library."The prisoners had dug the tunnel between October, 11 2012 and February 12, 2013, until the jail officer found it."The officers found out that a big tunnel was dug up near the water-tank behind the big tree which was approximately six feet deep and around 196 feet long, which is outside the jail campus," the Court noted..Justice Nanvati said that the Sessions Court should have had avoided going into technicalities, and ought to have only considered whether or not there was a prima facie case against the prisoners."This Court is not required to consider whether the case of the accused fall within the definition or explanation of 'State Prisoners' as the same would be subject matter of evidence. At this stage, it is only required to consider from the evidence on record whether a prima facie case is made out against them," the order stated.The Court, therefore, allowed the State's application and quashed the Sessions Court order..Public Prosecutor Mitesh Amin and Additional Public Prosecutor Maithili Mehta appeared for the State.Advocates DD Pathan, Khalid G Shaikh and SM Vatsa represented the prisoners..[Read judgment]