Seema Misra, an Indian-Origin Woman, Falsely Imprisoned in the UK While 8 Weeks Pregnant

Seema Misra, now 47, had her conviction quashed in April 2021. The Court of Appeal ruled that she had been wrongly imprisoned over 12 years ago after being accused of stealing GBP 75,000 from her Post Office branch in Surrey where she was the sub-postmistress.

Former Post Office Managing Director David Smith apologized during Thursday’s hearings for the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry in London for a congratulatory email he sent after Ms. Misra’s conviction. He acknowledged that his email would have caused substantial distress to Seema Misra and her family and apologized sincerely, expressing regret for his actions.

However, Ms. Misra rejected the apology, stating that even after her conviction was overturned, nobody came to apologize, and it seemed that the apologies only came about when they had to appear in a public inquiry. She highlighted the impact on her family, particularly her youngest son, and emphasized the severity of her ordeal.

Ms. Misra recounted her experience of being sent to Bronzefield prison in south-east England and serving four-and-a-half months. She also expressed displeasure at being used as a “test case” and emphasized the emotional toll it had taken on her.

The faulty Horizon IT accounting system had impacted many sub-postmasters, leading to wrongful accusations and convictions. The UK government, as the formal owner of Post Office Ltd, has paid out millions in compensation to hundreds of impacted sub-postmasters, many of them of Indian heritage.

The British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged action in the historic scandal, leading to the introduction of the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill to quash convictions brought about by erroneous Horizon evidence. The public inquiry in the case is ongoing and is expected to conclude in July.

The Horizon system, developed by the Japanese company Fujitsu, first rolled out in 1999 and has been the subject of controversy due to its impact on numerous individuals.