Image Courtesy:indianexpress.com
During the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Parliament, the Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju, has provided some shocking statistics about jail inmates and those prisoners who were granted bail at the time of the first and the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
With the outbreak of Coronavirus, the Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the conditions in jails and had directed the States to file responses about the methods adopted by them to decongest prisons (In Re: Contagion of Covid-19 virus in prisons, Suo Motu W.P No. 1 of 2020). On March 23, 2020, an SC Bench had observed that the issue of overcrowding of prisons is a matter of “serious concern” and said, “Having regard to the provisions of Article 21 of the Constitution of India, it has become imperative to ensure that the spread of the Corona Virus within the prisons is controlled.”
Subsequently, it had directed all states and Union Territories (UT) to constitute a High-Powered Committee (HPC) comprising of the Chairman of the State Legal Services Committee, the Principal Secretary (Home/Prison) by whatever designation is known as, Director General of Prison(s), to determine which class of prisoners can be released on parole or an interim bail for some period of time.
In his written statement dated August 4, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju has revealed that during the lockdown from March to May 2020, a total number of 58,797 undertrial prisoners and 20,972 convicts were released on interim bail/parole on recommendations of the HPC or through efforts of Legal Services Authorities.
Further, during May 2021 to July 15, 2020, as many as 20,593 bail applications were filed before different courts on the recommendations of Undertrial Review Committee which consequently led to the release of only 9,237 prisoners. In addition to this, the Law Minister’s written answer also revealed details about undertrials who have been released from jails after the second wave hit India. “92,593 prisoners including 70,382 undertrial prisoners have been released after the emergence of the second wave of Covid-19,” read the response submitted before Parliament.
As per the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, that compiles prison statistics reported to it by states and UTs, and publishes it in its annual report “Prison Statistics India”, Indian prisons housed a total of 3,30,487 undertrials as on December 31, 2019.
Relying on the statistics provided by the government and collated by NCRB, a rough total of 1,92,125 undertrials have continued to languish in jails, against 1,38,416 inmates who have been released on parole/bail over the last one year.
The pandemic, especially the second wave has exposed the inhuman and unsanitary conditions of jails across the country. On April 16, the Bombay High Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the surge in Covid-19 numbers in prisons where close to 200 prisoners had tested positive for the virus across all 47 jails in the State, reported SabrangIndia. The High Court had also directed the government to vaccinate all accused persons above the age of 45 years immediately after their arrest.
In April 2021, People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) had written to Chief Justice DN Patel of the Delhi High Court about the worsening conditions in the prisons, in view of the virulent second Covid-19 wave. The letter had revealed that at the time, 67 active cases of Covid among jail inmates and eleven among jail staff, including a jail superintendent and two prison doctors had been reported. Overall, around 200 prisoners and 300 staff members had tested positive across Delhi jails and there had been very little reporting of the status of health of inmates over the past one week.
Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), had even written to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray, on two occasions, about the deplorable conditions of prisons, requesting him to recommend the release of all Bhima Koregaon accused undertrials to the HPC, after learning about their ill health.
Mahesh Raut, Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor had tested positive for Covid-19 after an RT-PCR drive was conducted at Taloja in early June this year. Professor Hany Babu, who had also tested positive for Covid-19, had to be shifted to Breach Candy Hospital for treatment of his severe eye infection. His family members had revealed that he did not even have access to clean water to nurse his infected eye. Varavara Rao, who is out on bail, had also contracted Covid in jail last year.
Covid-19 also did not spare the last and the oldest person to be arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, Father Stan Swamy, who died on July 5, in Holy Family Hospital.
The Law Minister’s complete answer may be read here:
Related:
Release remaining Bhima Koregaon accused: CJP writes to Maharashtra CM
Bhima Koregaon case: 3 accused test Covid positive at Taloja jail
Transfer Hany Babu to Breach Candy hospital by tomorrow: Bombay High Court
Covid-19: Bombay HC directs State to vaccinate accused persons above 45 years upon arrest
Bombay HC takes suo motu cognisance of Covid surge in prisons
PUDR writes open letter to Delhi HC’s Chief Justice over Covid surge in prisons