COVID-19: Barpeta district jail releases 15 undertrials to decongest prison

Barpeta district jail in Assam on Monday released 15 undertrials as per the Supreme Court directive to decongest prisons in the wake of coronavirus outbreak, officials said. All the prisoners are residents of the district, Jail Superintendent Gobinda Malakar.

With this, more than 100 inmates of different prisons in Assam were released in the last three days. Authorities of the Nalbari district jail released 45 undertrials on Sunday while Tezpur Central Jail released 41 prisoners on Saturday.

The apex court had on March 23 directed all the states and Union Territories to constitute committees to consider releasing on parole or interim bail prisoners and undertrials for offences entailing up to seven-year jail term to decongest prisons in the wake of coronavirus outbreak..