The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court in India on Friday directed the Superintendent of Central Prison for Women, Puzhal, to immediately release a 19-year-old Sri Lankan woman, who has been kept in custody despite being granted bail by a lower court in Ramanathapuram.

Justice GR Swaminathan passed the order on the petition filed by the woman, S Kasturi of Mullivalai in Sri Lanka.

According to the petition, Kasturi came to India through a tourist visa in April 2018 but had continued to stay here even after its expiry in July 2018. She was arrested in September this year when she attempted to leave for Sri Lanka illegally from Ramanathapuram shore.

Subsequently, the sessions court in Ramanathapuram granted bail to her on November 1, on certain conditions which included that she should stay at the Tiruchy Sri Lankan Special Camp and report to the camp in-charge daily.

But receiving the bail order, the prison authorities did not release her, she stated and filed the petition.

Invoking the inherent powers of the High Court under 482 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which enables the court to give effect to any order passed under the code, Justice Swaminathan directed the Prison Superintendent to release the petitioner forthwith.

Source: The New Indian Express