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Delhi: HC extends bail of under-trials prisoners by 45 days over corona infection fears
New Delhi The Delhi High Court on Saturday extended the interim bail of 2,177 under trial prisoners for another 45 days after the high-powered committee, constituted
New Delhi The Delhi High Court on Saturday extended the interim bail of 2,177 under trial prisoners for another 45 days after the high-powered committee, constituted to decongest Tihar jail, made the recommendation.
In April, the under-trials, lodged across three prisons in Delhi -- Tihar, Mandoli, and Rohini -- were released on interim bail to decongest the jail complexes and ensure social distancing inside prisons. At over 18,000 prisoners, Tihar is the most crowded prison in the country.
Prison officers are on high alert ever since reports came of prisoners testing positive for the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease in other prison complexes in the country. At Tihar however, no prisoner had tested positive for the virus until Saturday.
A bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh on Saturday afternoon extended the period of interim bail by 45 days from the date of the respective expiry of the interim bails, on the continuation of the terms and conditions. The court told Sandeep Goel, director general (prisons) to ensure this order is conveyed to all the 2,177 under-trials by telephone, as well as through all other available modes of communication.
The court’s order comes in reference to a matter filed on the basis of a letter written by the Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA), seeking a judicial order to extend the interim bails.
On May 5, a meeting of the high-powered committee, headed by Justice Hima Kohli of the Delhi High Court, was convened, where the DG (prisons) had said that the interim bails of the 2,177 prisoners was going to end on May 9.
Kanwaljeet Arora, member secretary, DSLSA, had said that since it would be difficult to file separate pleas for all the inmates, a judicial order by the high court would suffice. The committee had then asked the DSLSA to put this forth before the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court, following which the matter was taken up on Saturday.
On Saturday, in a hearing held via video conferencing, Goel told the court that health concerns with regards to the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic have not changed and that it would be a dangerous proposition if the undertrials out on bail are put back into jails, where they might infect other prisoners.
Advocate Rahul Mehra, standing counsel (criminal), and advocate Chaitnaya, both representing the Delhi government, submitted there is no objection to the extension of the interim bails granted to the 2,177 under-trials by another period of 45 days from the respective date of expiry of their interim bail period.
Following this, the court accepted the recommendations of the committee.
