PIL in HC seeks release of under trial prisoners on bail in Delhi in view of COVID-19 situation

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been moved in Delhi High Court for the release of Under Trial Prisoners (UTPs) on interim bail or Special Parole in the wake of the prevalent COVID-19 situation in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been moved in Delhi High Court for the release of Under Trial Prisoners (UTPs) on interim bail or Special Parole in the wake of the prevalent COVID-19 situation in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The PIL seeks direction for framing guidelines for the release of prisoners on interim bail or special parole in view of the prevailing Covid-19 situation in the three jails in the capital.

The petitioner RK Gosain through Advocate Lalit Valecha and Advocate Sadaf Iliyas Khan also seeks direction to the Director-General of Prisons to file a detailed affidavit apprising this Court regarding the exact number of Covid-19 positive cases in the three jails in Delhi as of date. The petition likely to heard on April 22, 2021 by Delhi High Court states that the number of COVID-19 positive cases as of date are alarming and are on the increase. Following social distancing norms is the most crucial factor but jails in Delhi are already overcrowded and following social distancing norms is a near impossibility, the plea stated.

The plea mentioned that in these circumstances, the prisoners in Delhi jails are more vulnerable to catching COVID-19 infection and one of the effective ways for controlling the spread of COVID-19 infection is to decongest the jails by releasing the prisoners on interim bail. The plea also seeks direction to the government of Delhi to file an affidavit to the effect that adequate RT-PCR testing infrastructure is available for conducting the test and that no citizen is being denied RT-PCR test in all government and private recognised laboratories.

It also seeks direction to the Delhi government to provide test results to the patients who have undergone RT-PCR test, immediately through Whatsapp and hard copies and not later than 24-hours without waiting for them to be uploaded on the ICMR's website. (ANI)

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