E-Paper
36 convicts, 48 undertrials remain in city jails, despite interim bail orders
Those who have been ordered to be released were serving sentences for cases, under which there is a maximum term of seven years.
Thirty-six of 686 convicts, who were ordered to be released from city’s three jails on interim bails, continue to languish on the premises. Some of them are unwilling to return home while others are unable to return to their hometowns in Haryana, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh due to the ongoing 21-day lockdown.
Those who have been ordered to be released were serving sentences for cases, under which there is a maximum term of seven years. The orders were issued to decongest the Rohini, Mandoli and Tihar jails, to ensure social distancing amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
As many as 48 undertrial prisoners (UTPs) are also languishing at the jail, chiefly due to lack of transportation, as per the information provided by the Tihar jail authorities to the Delhi government’s committee to decongest the prisons.
The director general (DG), prisons, told the committee, headed by justice Hima Kohli, that 261 more cases are under process. He said that so far, 775 of the 823 UTPs have been released after receiving orders for the same.
The committee also discussed and resolved that the next set of prisoners who would be released on a 45-day interim bail would include UTPs who are senior citizens in custody for six months or more, facing trial in a case which prescribes a maximum sentence of 10 years, UTPs aged less than 60 years of age in custody for one year or more, facing trial in a case which prescribes a maximum sentence of 10 years and UTPs/remand prisoners (who are yet to be chargesheeted) in custody for 15 days or more, facing trial in a case which prescribes a maximum sentence of seven years.
However, the committee excluded foreigners, those undergoing trials for intermediary/ large quantity recovery under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act), those charged under sections 4 and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and rape accused.
Kanwal Jeet Arora, member-secretary, Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA) informed the committee that advocates empanelled with DSLSA, visiting jail premises on daily basis, had drafted and filed 1,475 applications, as on April 4, 2020, for grant of interim bail.
The committee was informed that out of these bail applications, interim bails have been granted in 823 cases and expected to be granted in 100 more cases on the basis of applications filed/pending for consideration, at the courts concerned.
The court said that in the last meeting, held on March 28, the DG (prisons) had informed them that the number of convicts who can be released on parole for eight weeks is 1,500, of whom 650 have been released.
The chairperson cautioned the DG (prisons) and principal secretary (home) that any delay in the release of the eligible convicts on “emergency parole”, so as to complete the exercise of decongesting jails, will render the entire Covid-19 fight futile. The DG and PS assured the chair that they would expedite the process and mentioned that preventive measures are being taken up by jail authorities.
The DG told the committee that bathing areas, kitchen and the telephone bays are being cleaned and sanitised regularly. He said that inmates are being apprised about the necessary precautions, i.e., dos and don’ts through public address systems installed in the jails.
He also said that 25-30 new male inmates, aged 21 and above, have been kept at separate wards in Tihar’s jail number two and Mandoli’s jail number 13. Separate wards have been created in jail number six for new women inmates, while men aged between 18 and 21 years would be kept at jail number five in Tihar.
The DG said that as per the resolutions adopted in the previous meeting, adequate quantities of soap cakes, liquid soaps, phenyl, masks, and sanitisers, manufactured in-house, have been sent to juvenile justice boards and observation homes, as per the requirements. They have been put to use in the jails as well.
