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A Maharashtra government-appointed high-power committee has decided to temporarily release around 50 percent of the prisoners to decongest prisons across the state in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, he has not specified any time frame for the prison authorities to release the prisoners.
Representative image. AFP
The panel, while making the decision on Monday, also said that prisoners convicted or imprisoned on serious charges under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and strict legal provisions such as MCOCA, UAPA and PMLA will not be released on bail or parole. temporary.
The committee, made up of Bombay Supreme Court Justice AA Sayed, the additional chief secretary of the State Department of the Interior, Sanjay Chahande, and Maharashtra’s director general of prisons, SN Pandey, was created after the Court Supreme in March called for decongestion of prisons across the country due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The decision was made Monday to release about 50 percent of prisoners from statewide jails on temporary bail or parole. While the committee did not specify a time frame for release, it said the prison authorities must follow due process of law before releasing the prisoners.
“This would substantially decongest the prisons and now about 50 percent of the prisoners in the prison population of 35,239 are expected to be released,” the committee said.
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The decision comes after more than 100 inmates and staff members at Arthur Road Jail in central Mumbai tested positive for COVID-19. A 54-year-old inmate at the Byculla Women’s Prison also tested positive for coronavirus last week.
The panel in its decision said that only those prisoners convicted or prosecuted for crimes punishable by up to seven years in prison will have the right to be released on temporary bail or parole.
Prisoners convicted or charged with serious charges under the IPC and special laws such as the Maharashtra Organized Crime Control Act (MCOCA), the Maharashtra Depositor Interest Protection Act (MPID), the Prevention Act from illegal activities (UAPA) and the Money Laundering Prevention Act (PMLA), you will not be released on temporary bail or parole.
The panel also rejected a representation by attorney SB Talekar, alleging that the decision not to release prisoners accused or convicted under the special laws was discriminatory and arbitrary.
He noted that the Supreme Court had left it to the committee’s absolute discretion to determine what class / category of prisoners can be released on temporary bail or parole, depending not only on the severity of the crime but also on the nature of the crime.
The committee said that prisoners who do not have temporary bail or parole will have to seek regular bail from the courts concerned.
“It would be necessary to analyze the facts on a case-by-case basis by a judicial mind before releasing those prisoners, after considering the likelihood of them escaping and / or altering evidence or witnesses,” the panel said.
Update date: 12 May 2020 18:18:06 IST
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