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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday set a five-day deadline for the states to furnish details of the norms employed for releasing prisoners accused of minor offences from overcrowded jails in accordance with the court’s March 23, 2020 order, which intended to prevent spread of Covid but found to have been erratically implemented.
A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices L N Rao and A S Bopanna frowned at the lackadaisical approach of the states in releasing the inmates facing trial/convicted in offences punishable with less than seven years imprisonment leading to hundreds of prisoners over the age of 60 years still being confined to prisons even after more than a year of its order and the country enduring two waves of pandemic.
Referring to the affidavits with sketchy details filed by the states about compliance of the orders, the bench said, “The affidavits give no information as to how they have implemented the SC orders… There appears to be no uniform guidelines adopted by the high powered committees set up on SC orders in each state, for release of prisoners”.
“Except Haryana and Tripura, no state appears to have taken into consideration the age and comorbidities for release of old prisoners,” it said.
A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices L N Rao and A S Bopanna frowned at the lackadaisical approach of the states in releasing the inmates facing trial/convicted in offences punishable with less than seven years imprisonment leading to hundreds of prisoners over the age of 60 years still being confined to prisons even after more than a year of its order and the country enduring two waves of pandemic.
Referring to the affidavits with sketchy details filed by the states about compliance of the orders, the bench said, “The affidavits give no information as to how they have implemented the SC orders… There appears to be no uniform guidelines adopted by the high powered committees set up on SC orders in each state, for release of prisoners”.
“Except Haryana and Tripura, no state appears to have taken into consideration the age and comorbidities for release of old prisoners,” it said.
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