Prisoners freed to decongest jails during pandemic not to be asked to surrender until court orders

THE Supreme Court Friday directed that prisoners who were released pursuant to its order and the recommendation of the High Powered Committee(HPC) to prevent the outbreak of the Covid19 in the jails, would not be asked to surrender until further orders from the court.

A three-judge bench of CJI NV Ramana, Justices L Nageswara Rao and AS Bopanna passed the order while hearing its suo motu case on the decongestion of jails.

The bench also said it was of the view that there should be uniform guidelines for states to govern the release of prisoners during the Covid19 crisis. Currently, every state has its own HPC framing guidelines to decongest the jails.

Amicus curie Dushyant Dave agreed with the court's suggestions.

The court also sought to know from all the state governments and Union Territories about their compliance with its order passed on May 8 directing the release of inmates who were ordered to be freed during the first wave of Covid19 in March 2020.

The matter will now be heard on August 3.