Wrongly Jailed Pregnant Indian Origin Woman in UK Refuses Apology

A former Post Office manager of Indian origin, who was wrongly imprisoned while pregnant, has dismissed the apology from a former government-owned entity boss during an ongoing public inquiry into an accounting scandal.

Seema Misra, now 47, had her conviction overturned in April 2021 after being accused of stealing GBP 75,000 from her Post Office branch in Surrey. The former Post Office Managing Director, David Smith, apologized for a congratulatory email he sent after Misra’s conviction, acknowledging the distress it may have caused her and her family.

However, Misra, speaking to reporters, rejected the apology, highlighting the years of ordeal she endured and the impact on her family, particularly her youngest son. Misra served four-and-a-half months in Bronzefield prison in south-east England and later gave birth to her second son while wearing an electronic tag.

The UK government has compensated hundreds of impacted sub-postmasters, many of them of Indian heritage, due to the faulty Horizon software. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged action in the scandal, with a new law introduced to quash convictions brought about by erroneous Horizon evidence. The Horizon system, developed by Fujitsu, exhibited significant bugs that led to misreporting, impacting sub-postmasters’ lives.