New Delhi: With cases now rising rapidly inside Delhi's jails with no time to be lost, authorities here are planning to release the first batch of inmates on emergency parole and interim bail in light of the current wave of the pandemic by the end of this week itself, officials aware of developments said.
One senior prison official said that the Supreme Court order on allowing mass parole of those who got the same benefit last year and had surrendered had made things that much easier for them this time around.
According to the official, the order will save a lot of time and paperwork. "Those who have surrendered may get relief but there will be no relief for those who were absconding," the official added.
Sandeep Goel, Director General (Prisons) said that the process of decongestion is likely to start within this week itself. Last year, convicts were given emergency parole for eight weeks, and from time to time, this was increased. Last year, 1,184 were given emergency parole, of which around 100 failed to surrender. "We can say that straight away 1,000 will get emergency parole. We are just deciding the procedures," the official said. If there are any fresh convicts, the process will take time but a chunk will be released, he added.
The statistics shared by the prison authority revealed that till May 7, about 535 inmates, jail officials had tested positive since March 2021. "359 inmates were affected by the contagious disease in which 222 have recovered and six died whereas 176 prison staff have tested positive in which 42 have recovered," the data showed.
As for undertrials, last year, the court kept granting interim bail to those who fall under the categories set forth by the SC-appointed High Powered Committee independently but prison officials are now in splits as to whether these inmates will be released en masse or whether they will have to apply for interim bail all over again.
This, of course, does not apply to those arrested after October last year, all of whom will have to file fresh pleas for interim bail, which will be examined by courts under the criteria set by the HPC.
In 2020, around 3,500 were granted interim bail as per the categories of the HPC, of which 1,250 returned and over 2,000 did not. Around 150 of these were arrested for another crime while out on interim bail and some 100 others got regular bail in their cases.
"There is the possibility that some of them who did not return might get regular bail but we are not sure," the official said.
According to the official, as per the SC order, 1,250 can get interim bail straightaway. They are in the process of deciding whether individual applications of these UTPs will be sent to the courts or as per SC order, they can directly release all of them through a single order. "The process is under consideration but in the future, these 1,250 UTPs will get the relief," the official said.
The latest figures as of May 4 showed that 564 jail
inmates and more than 85 percent of the jail staff have been vaccinated.