The Supreme Court of India has given out a major judgement that the prisoners across the country who are eligible for immediate release must be released in order to decongest the prisons in the country.
The decision has been taken amidst the increasing Covid-19 cases in the country as well as in the prison.
Last year, a number of prisoners were released due to the same reason and subsequently re-imprisoned after COVID-19 pandemic seemingly reduced. These re-imprisoned prisoners are eligible for an immediate release this time.
The Supreme Court, on Saturday, also said that the police shouldn’t arrest the accused unless necessary in crimes sentenced with less than seven years of imprisonment, and the SC also guided authorities to make sure that proper medical facilities are provided to the ones still in the prison.
Last year, the release of the prisoners took place in accordance to the high-powered committees set up by the States and UTs but, this year, as per the judgement given by the bench comprising of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices L Nageswara Rao and Surya Kant said all those prisoners should be granted the same relief without reconsideration by the committees.
Those States which have not constituted High Powered Committees last year should do so immediately, added the bench.
The following directions were issued by the Court in its order:
– Control or Limit authorities from arresting accused unless their crime is eligible for more than 7 years imprisonment;
– The High-Powered Committees should consider the prisoners release by adopting the guidelines (such as inter alia, SOP laid down by NALSA) followed by them last year, at the earliest;
– High Powered Committee, also considering fresh release, should forthwith release all the inmates who had been released earlier pursuant to our order March 23, 2020, by imposing appropriate conditions. Such an exercise is mandated in order to save valuable time;
– Those inmates who were granted parole, pursuant to the Court’s earlier orders, should be again granted a parole for a period of 90 days in order to tide over the pandemic;
– The fight against the pandemic is greatly benefitted by transparent administration. In this regard, our attention was drawn to example of Delhi, wherein the prison occupancy is updated in websites. Such measures are required to be considered by other States and should be adopted as good practice;
– Correct measures must be taken for transporting the prisoners;
– Regular testing of the ones in the prison and the staff must take place so as to control the spread of Covid-19;
– Daily hygiene and sanitisation is a must in the prisons;
In the order, the court also mentioned that there maybe prisoners who wouldn’t want to be released in view of their fear of being victims of the fatal virus or social background.
Giving a solution to this, the court said, as reported by Bar and Bench:
“In such extraordinary cases, the authorities are directed to be considerate to the concerns of the inmates. The authorities are directed to ensure that proper medical facilities are provided to all prisoners who are imprisoned.”
