The court emphasizes that the legal right of incarcerated persons to be produced before a court for addressing grievances is fundamental and cannot be disregarded due to administrative contingencies; such failures are systemic issues requiring Pan-India judicial oversight and virtual court integration.

O R D E R

Heard Mr. Tushar Mehta, learned Solicitor General and Mr. S.V. Raju, learned Additional Solicitor General for the respondent/applicant-State of Maharashtra. The Court was informed that they are also appearing on behalf of the officers namely, Mr. Ashutosh Dumbare, Commissioner of Police, Thane Commissionerate, Maharashtra; Mr. P.J. Jagtap, Superintendent of Police, Kalyan Jail and Mr. C.R. Devkate, Additional Senior Jailor (Judicial), who are also present before the Court in terms of our previous order dated 03.02.2026.

2. In terms of the order dated 03.02.2026, the above-named officers have filed their affidavits.

3. Learned Solicitor General and learned Additional Solicitor General have addressed the Court. However, upon interaction with the above officers, we are not fully satisfied with the stand taken or the averments made in their affidavits.

4. Pausing here, we are also shocked by the conduct inasmuch as, when the order dated 03.02.2026 in no uncertain terms used the following terms with regard to the presence of the above officers “shall remain physically present with their show cause on the date fixed”, the officers instead of filing their show-cause, have filed just a simple affidavit.

5. At this juncture, on a query to the officers, as to whether, there was any misunderstanding of the order or they have not read the same, no satisfactory answer is forthcoming. We record that this is an indication of extreme casualness on the part of the officers in not filing a show-cause. Thus, on this short ground also, we could have rejected the affidavits and proceeded with issuing notice for contempt for violation of this Court’s order.

6. However, moving on, we find that lame excuses have been made for justifying what has happened. We find such excuses to be totally unacceptable for the reason that a common man’s right, that too a person who is incarcerated and is required under law to be produced before the Court so that he has an opportunity to tell the Court with regard to any grievance he may have during his period of incarceration, has been totally extinguished and the officers have shown it to be a trivial issue and taking the plea of being engaged/preoccupied with other administrative contingencies. We reject such explanation outright.

7. At this juncture, learned Additional Solicitor General submitted that he may be permitted to unconditionally withdraw the affidavits and one last opportunity be given to the above officers to file an appropriate show-cause as per the order dated 03.02.2026 passed by this Court.

8. Mr. Ashutosh Dumbare, Commissioner of Police, Thane, has unconditionally apologised for his conduct and sought to be pardoned for not filing a show-cause. He also submitted that he may be given another opportunity to file his show-cause. The stand of the other two officers is also the same.

9. The matter being of a serious nature, which is borne out from the order dated 02.12.2025, cannot be under-estimated. It has shocked the conscious of this Court. We are also of the opinion that this is not a localised situation, but rather a Pan-India situation, which the Court is inclined to address in these proceedings for the larger public benefit especially, when it relates to the life and liberty of a common man.

10. Accordingly, by way of an extraordinary indulgence, the affidavits filed by the above officers shall not be taken into