Maharashtra: Decide on jail transfer pleas in 48 hours, Bombay HC directs magistrates

The Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday directed magistrates to decide applications by prison authorities seeking transfer of undertrial prisoners from crowded jails to lesser crowded ones amid the prevailing Covid-19 situation within 48 hours

The Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday directed magistrates to decide applications by prison authorities seeking transfer of undertrial prisoners from crowded jails to lesser crowded ones amid the prevailing Covid-19 situation within 48 hours. The court issued the directions to ensure ‘equitable distribution’ and to decongest jails some of which were having more prisoners than their capacity thus making the inmates susceptible to contracting the infection.

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A division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Girish S Kulkarni issued the directions in the suo motu (on its own) public interest litigation (PIL) on the issue of overcrowding in the state and district jails which had resulted in almost 200 prisoners and 76 prison staff testing positive for Covid in the past month.

In the previous hearing on April 20, the court had asked the state government to respond to its concerns over the surge in Covid-19 cases across prisons and provide suggestions on measures to prevent the same.

According to the data furnished by the state to the HC about 35,124 prisoners are lodged across 47 jails in Maharashtra, which can house around 23,217 inmates only. The court on Tuesday had directed the state to provide details about the crime rate and the number of persons arrested after the April 13 ‘break the chain’ circular of the state government and inform whether there was any drop in the crime rate compared to the first 12 days of April 2021.

On Thursday, after perusing the crime data submitted which it had sought from the state, the bench noted that offences of dacoity, robbery, kidnapping and theft were on the decline in 2020. However, it expressed its dissatisfaction with the data and said, “What has been placed before us does not serve the query of the court. The chart provided by the government is showing the crime rate in 2019 and 2020.” The court granted time to the state government to furnish a relevant response to its query during the next hearing.

Thereafter, advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni informed the court that the procedure for decongesting jails and transferring prisoners required a judicial order, which the concerned magistrates could decide after hearing the prisoner and prison authority, and pass a reasoned order on the transfer.

After senior advocate, Mihir Desai who had represented the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), an NGO which had sought various reliefs for prisoners during the outbreak of coronavirus in jails last year informed the court that transferring prisoners to other prisons could be a good option the bench said, “We do not doubt in our mind that having regard to the critical situation prevailing now, the state government may to ensure equitable distribution of undertrial prisoners, have to decide upon shifting some of them from overcrowded correctional homes. We have expressed hope and trust that the magistrate decides application as earliest possible, preferably within 48 hours of making such application.” HC will hear the PIL next on Tuesday, April 27.