The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it was a “travesty of justice” that a man it had granted bail to in April in a case under Uttar Pradesh’s anti-conversion law was not released from the Ghaziabad district jail yet, reported Live Law.

A bench of Justices KV Viswanathan and N Kotiswar Singh directed the superintendent jailor of the prison to appear before the court on Wednesday. The Uttar Pradesh Director General of Prisons was also directed to appear via video conferencing.

This came after the prisoner alleged that he had not been released because a sub-section of the provision under which he was booked was not mentioned in the bail order, PTI reported.

The man was booked under sections of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to kidnapping, abducting or compelling a woman to marry against her will, in addition to sections of the 2021 Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act.

The court said something “something fishy” was underway and called the development “ridiculous”, proposing contempt action against jail authorities if the petitioner's allegations were found to be true, Live Law reported.

The bench highlighted that the “concerned sections are clearly mentioned” in the top court’s April 29 order, The Indian Express reported.

“This calls for a serious inquiry,” it added.

At the same time, the court warned the petitioner that action would be taken against him if it is found that his statement is not correct, “or that you are detained for due to some other case”.

“But if we find that this sub-clause was the reason, we will initiate contempt proceedings because it's a matter of liberty,” said the bench. “Do not take this court for granted!”