India: Haryana jail mistakenly release rape accused instead of other inmate

In a grave security lapse, a man who was jailed for raping a minor boy was mistakenly released from a prison in Haryana’s Faridabad after the authorities confused him for another inmate with same name, who was granted bail in a petty assault case.

Nitesh Pandey, 27, was arrested in October 2021 for repeatedly raping a nine-year-old boy and imprisoned in Neemka Jail in Faridabad. The other man, also Nitesh, 24, was sent to the same prison over charges of trespassing and assault, but was granted bail on Monday (May 26) by the court of the Faridabad chief judicial magistrate. However, things took a bizarre turn when the wrong Nitesh was released from prison.

“As per procedure, Nitesh was to be released from jail on Tuesday. But instead, jail authorities freed Nitesh Pandey—the rape accused—who then vanished,” said a senior Faridabad police officer familiar with the case, as cited by HT.

The police have launched a search for Pandey, a resident of Bihar’s Patna. He was booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 377 (unnatural sex), 506 (criminal intimidation), and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. In 2022, his bail plea was rejected, and a trial was ongoing.

Meanwhile, Nitesh, who lives in Shastri Colony in Faridabad, was detained on May 24. Both men’s fathers also share the same name, Ravinder, which led to confusion.

“Right now, our priority is to catch Pandey, then we can know in detail how he managed to escape,” a police spokesperson said.

The serious error was discovered when the second Nitesh asked about his release, which prompted an examination of the records. It was then found that Pandey was mistakenly released instead of him.

A First Information Report (FIR) was filed against Pandey on Wednesday (May 28) at Ballabhgarh Sadar police station. He is booked under sections 262 (obstructing lawful apprehension) and 319 (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

“Undertrial prisoner Nitish Pandey … who, knowing that there are no bail papers in his name, concealed his identity and got himself released in the name of another prisoner,” read the complaint filed by Faridabad Jail Superintendent Vikram Gill.

“Two teams, one from ours and another from the BPTP station, are working to apprehend Pandey. Responsibility for taking action against jail officials and any potential involvement of staff is not in our ambit; that will be determined through the jail authorities’ internal inquiry,” said Inspector Umesh Kumar, station house officer of the Ballabhgarh Sadar police station.

According to the police, both inmates were detained in the same section of the jail as they were undertrial prisoners.