The Maharashtra government has decided to implement lockdown at Aurangabad jail with proper arrangement for food and has directed police personnel to stay within the jail premises during the duration of the lockdown, state home minister Anil Deshmukh said on Sunday.
“Prisons in Maharashtra have more inmates than their actual capacity. So we have decided to implement lockdown at Aurangabad jail. Arrangements for food and for the stay of police personnel will be made inside the jail complex,” Deshmukh said.
The state government has also decided that no one will be allowed to come out or go inside the Aurangabad jail.
In an attempt to stop the Covid-19 infection from spreading inside the prisons of Maharashtra, which are already packed to capacity, a similar decision has been taken for five more jails in Maharashtra, Deshmukh added.
Earlier, this month, a city-based non-governmental organisation had moved the Bombay high court seeking speedy decongestion of prisons across Maharashtra, as ordered by the Supreme Court.
Taking cognizance of the threat created by the coronavirus pandemic, on March 23, the apex court had directed all states and union territories to decongest prisons to the maximum possible extent. The Supreme Court had ordered setting up of high-powered committees at state levels to determine the class or classes of prisoners who could be temporarily released from prisons in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
{{/usCountry}}Taking cognizance of the threat created by the coronavirus pandemic, on March 23, the apex court had directed all states and union territories to decongest prisons to the maximum possible extent. The Supreme Court had ordered setting up of high-powered committees at state levels to determine the class or classes of prisoners who could be temporarily released from prisons in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
{{/usCountry}}The apex court said the states and union territories could release certain categories of prisoners, like undertrials facing charges of offences punishable with imprisonment for up to seven years or prisoners convicted for similar offences.
Maharashtra, which has been the worst-hit in the Covid-19 pandemic, leads in terms of the number of active cases of Covid-19, according to Union health ministry data. Active cases exclude deaths and recoveries from the list of confirmed cases.
The number of coronavirus patients in Maharashtra has already crossed the 3000 mark.