In a once in a millennium judgment, The Jharkhand High Court imposed a condition for community service for 6 month, as a condition for bail, for 6 undertrials.
In his order, the Hon’ble Justice S Chandrashekhar, imposed a sentence for community service by way of traffic management and helping OPD patients at hospital. He stated that, “Service to the society by the accused persons would not only be appreciated by both the communities but it would also give solace to the injured persons.”
Community Service has been widely accepted as a way of punishing the petty offenders across the seas and this is the first time that an Indian Judicature body has imposed such a condition upon any offender.
While granting the undertrials with provisional bail, the Hon’ble Justice, among other conditions, also asked the accused to render community service on October 3 and November 6 at the government-run Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi. It, further directed them to report to the RIMS superintendent at 8.30 am on the fixed dates, who in turn would depute them to the hospital’s main gate for managing the traffic or patients’ rush at OPDs for three hours.
The Superintendent has been further asked to submit a report on the work of the accused, while undergoing the term of the service.
The accused, Imtiyaz Ansari, a businessman, Mojibur Rahman, a central government employee, Shakiruddin, Firoz Alam, Mohammad Aman and Sahid Alam, were arrested for allegedly attacking a Hindu marriage procession leaving eight, including a five-year-old girl injured.
