Mumbai: Around 130 advocates have written a letter to the Bombay High Court chief justice and the chief minister, amongst others, urging immediate action to decongest the prisons of the state in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The letter signed by top advocates, including Indira Jaising of Lawyers Collective, Mihir Desai, Yug Mohit Chaudhry and Sharif Shaikh, also addressed to the state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and DGP (prisons) SN Pandey, says there is a shared and urgent concern regarding those incarcerated in prisons and other settings of detention, such as childrens' homes, observation homes and special homes during the escalating coronavirus pandemic.
Advocate Shahid Nadeem, one of the signatories to the letter, said that Maharashtra is worst hit by the pandemic with the highest number of cases among other states.
The prime minister had advised social distancing, the country is under a lockdown and courts are hearing only extremely urgent matters. The state’s prisons and detention centres are amongst the most crowded in the country and there is imminent fear of the spread of the virus, which needs to be addressed.
“Prisoners do not have the option to make choices or implement measures that would protect them or those around them,” the letter said, adding that prisons will serve as sources of re-infection if they are not immediately decongested.
It urged that the High Powered Committee, formed by the state government on the apex court’s direction after it took suo moto cognisance of overcrowded prisons, would determine the class of convicts who can be released on parole and the class of undertrials who can be released on interim bails. In addition, the letter said that the SC has given powers to the committee to decide on other relevant factors.
It said that prisoners about 50 years of age, children in conflict with law detained at various settings, those with pre-existing health conditions, disability, mental illnesses and women prisoners be considered for release. Excluding these high risk categories is like giving them a death sentence, it said.
The letter stated further that the High Powered Committee ordered that those booked or charged for offences with a maximum punishment of up to 7 years be considered for release, but excluded people charged under MCOC, PMLA, MPID, NDPS, UAPA, foreign nationals and people from other states.
Such a categorisation, it called 'shocking and unfair', which violated the prisoners’ fundamental rights of Right to Life and Equality before law. At the same time, it said that no prisoner should be released without their consent and the state should ensure safe travel for those released as well give them a post release subsistence allowance.
For those who cannot be released, it said, they should be informed on the status of the pandemic, given access to sanitisers and other cleaning material free of cost, given monthly subsistence of Rs 3,000 for the purchase of food and given access to frequent communication with family and lawyers through video conferencing.
