Overview

• Aftab secured bail from the Supreme Court on April 29 in a case under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, but remained in Ghaziabad jail until June 24 due to the omission of “(1)” in Section 5 of his bail order.
• On June 24, a bench led by Justices K.V. Viswanathan and N. Kotiswar Singh summoned the state’s Director General of Prisons and the Ghaziabad jail superintendent, condemning the prolonged detention as a “travesty of justice.”
• The following day, the court directed the Uttar Pradesh government to pay an interim ₹5 lakh to Aftab and appointed the Principal District and Sessions Judge of Ghaziabad to conduct a judicial inquiry into the delay.
• The Supreme Court chastised jail authorities for nit-picking legal technicalities to deny constitutional liberty and warned of contempt proceedings if the sub-clause omission was confirmed as the sole cause.
• Uttar Pradesh’s Director General of Prisons has pledged to sensitize prison staff on respecting court orders and protecting individual liberty, with the inquiry report due to be filed in August.