Man, 98, left to languish in Indian jail after no one paid £116 for his release

11 January 2023 , 12:49

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Ram Surat, 98, (sitting on the left) was locked up for six years for theft after a family mistook his alms-seeking for thievery (Image: timesofindia)

An elderly Indian holy man was left to languish in prison after no-one offered up a bail bond of £116 for his release.

Ram Surat, 98, was finally released from a jail in Ayodhya, India this week after being locked up for six years on charges of theft.

Mr Surat, who became a Hindu holy man (Sanyasi) during middle age, was abandoned by friends and family who either left his native village or died after he took his vows.

Without anyone to help keep him alive, he went out to seek alms and relied on the kindness of strangers.

One day in 2017, he was accused of stealing by a family who mistook his religious alms-seeking for thievery.

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Police hauled him into prison and charged him with theft.

Mr Surat was released from jail with the help of prison superintendent Shashikant Mishra (@DgPrisons/Twitter)

Mr Mishra helped to get the bail bond paid and then managed to secure Mr Surat's lodgings in an ashram (@DgPrisons/Twitter)

Two years later, a judge sentenced him to five years in jail for house trespass and voluntarily causing hurt in line with the Indian Penal Code.

On August 8 last year, Mr Surat was meant to be released from jail but the surety of Rs 11,500 (£116) couldn't be posted because he had no relatives.

Thankfully, the jail superintendent at last realised that Mr Surat had overstayed his term.

He liaised with an NGO which posted his bail bond, with the jailor receiving new orders from the court for his release.

“On January 7, we sent a letter to the court, requesting to resend the release order of Ram Surat, on which, taking quick cognisance, the release order of the said prisoner was sent to us on time,” said the superintendent, Shashikant Mishra.

Mr Surat said: “I don’t have words to describe what the jail superintendent has done for me." (@DgPrisons/Twitter)

He added: “I roped in Shailendra Mohan Mishra, who runs an NGO and is also connected with the BJP, who instantly furnished his surety. We were able to deposit Rs 11,500 paving way for his safe release.”

But without any family members to take him in, Mr Surat would have been released into a life of homelessness.

In a move that left the holy man speechless, the superintendent returned him to his native Ayodhya city and arranged for his lodgings in an ashram.

Mr Surat happened to be a disciple of the ashram's top mendicant, Mahant Kaushal Kishore Das, who took him in.

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Speaking with reporters, Mr Surat was grateful for the superintendent's intervention, despite him staying five months over his sentence.

“I don’t have words to describe what the jail superintendent has done for me,” he said.

Mishra claims to have done similar for around 500 similar prisoners during his seven-year tenure.

Ryan Fahey