New Delhi, Dec. 25 -- The Supreme Court has pulled up the Uttar Pradesh prison authorities for delaying the release of a Muslim undertrial, charged under an anti-conversion law, by nearly a month, despite a clear bail order passed by the apex court, calling it "very sad" and "unfortunate" that a person's liberty was curtailed on the basis of a trivial technicality.

A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan lamented that the undertrial continued to remain behind bars for almost a month after being granted bail merely because a sub-clause of a statutory provision was not mentioned in the release order, even though all essential particulars were available.

"It is very sad that despite being released on bail by the highest Court o...