Chandigarh, April 8 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) has acquitted three Haryana cops booked for negligence after a prisoner escaped Ambala police custody in 2010, holding that the absence of necessary resources made it unreasonable to blame the officers.

The HC bench of justice Sanjay Vashisth observed that providing facilities for safe custody is the responsibility of the administration, particularly as the accused are not ordinarily required to be handcuffed.

In the case at hand, three cops Baljinder Singh, Darbara Singh and Daljit Singh were booked for negligence attributing to a prisoner escaping from custody. The incident took place in February 2010, when an under-trial, Sandeep Kumar, escaped from the custody of the thre...