An Indian-origin woman who worked as a post office manager in the UK was wrongfully imprisoned throughout her pregnancy. She has not accepted the apologies from a former government-owned entity chief amid a public investigation into the accounting issue that is still continuing.
The conviction of 47-year-old Seema Misra was overturned in April 2021 after the Court of Appeal determined that she had been wrongfully imprisoned more than 12 years prior on charges of stealing GBP 75,000 from the Post Office branch in Surrey where she worked as the sub-postmistress, according to PTI.
David Smith, the former managing director of Post Office, apologised at the Post Office Horizon IT probe hearings in London on Thursday for an email he sent congratulating Seema Misra on her conviction.
According to David Smith’s written testimony to the investigation, “it was intended to be a congratulatory email to the team, knowing that they had worked hard on the case.”
But now that I know better, it’s clear that reading my email would have seriously upset Seema Misra and her family, and I sincerely apologise for that. He wrote, “Even if this had been a valid conviction, I would never consider it to be “great news” that a pregnant woman was going to jail, and I sincerely apologise if my email was interpreted that way.
“But now that I know more, I realise how angry and upset this email will have made people, and I truly apologise for that,” he continued.
However, years after her tragedy, Seema Misra refused the apology when she spoke with the media.
“They should apologise to my youngest son; I was eight weeks pregnant. It was awful. The apology is not something I have accepted,” Seema Misra told the BBC.
“My conviction was reversed, and no one apologised at the time. And now they’ve just realised that they have to apologise when they have to stand in front of a public inquiry,” the woman stated.
After serving four and a half months at South East England’s Bronzefield Prison, Seema Misra gave birth to her second son while wearing an electronic tag.
Seema Misra was utilised as a “test case,” according to David Smith, who told the inquiry that the case’s outcome increased trust in the flawed Horizon IT accounting system.
“How are they able to test on humans? I am a living being. I have heard that my case has already been utilised as a test case. But it gets annoying to hear it all the time. To be honest, it enrages me more and more,” Seema Misra said of his evidence on “Sky News.”
Post Office Ltd. is officially owned by the UK government, which has compensated hundreds of sub-postmasters affected by the flawed Horizon software with millions of dollars. Many of these sub-postmasters are of Indian descent.
