Due to a major lapse by the prison administration, a man accused of raping a nine-year-old boy was released by mistake by the Faridabad Jail Authorities, all due to confusion between two people with similar name and paternal details. The incident that happened this week has raised serious concerns about the prison verification processes.
The man who was released by mistake was the 27-year-old Nitesh Pandey, from Kalyanpur village in Patna, Bihar. He had been in judicial custody since October 2021 after being arrested for sexual assault of a minor in Faridabad’s Sector-58. His case was filed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and he was also considered a high-risk prisoner.
The confusion began after the jail authorities received a bail order for the other inmate, 24-year-old Nitesh, who lived in Shastri Colony, Faridabad. This Nitesh was just arrested a few days ago in a separate case of house trespass and assault, which was a significantly less serious offence as compared to the other one. There was another significant reason for the police being perplexed, which was the name of the father, apparently, both the prisoners had documented the same paternal name- Ravinder, which further messed the verification procedure.
After receiving the bail order on Monday, the jail administration was preparing for the release on Tuesday. But, instead of releasing the correct “Nitesh,” they mistakenly released Nitesh Pandey. It was when the real Nitesh, who had to be released, inquired about why there was a delay in his release date, the police got to know that they had released the wrong “Nitesh”. By the time everything was revealed, Pandey had fled away
The case has now been registered against Pandey for escaping custody. Meanwhile, two jail officials responsible for the release have been suspended with the investigation still pending. Authorities are also considering that there might be some internal connection that led to the mess in the release.
Faridabad Police Commissioner and senior jail officials have said that the investigation is underway to trace and re-arrest Pandey. They have also assured that jail protocols will be reviewed and strengthened to prevent similar incidents in the future.
