UP Bar Council chairman seeks decongestion of prisons to preserve social distancing

PRAYAGRAJ, April 24 (HS): In light of the havoc wreaked by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh, the state’s apex body of lawyers, has written a letter to Justice Sanjay Yadav, the newly appointed Acting Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court, requesting temporary bail/ parole for under-trial prisoners/ convicts.

“Reports in the print and electronic media indicate that the number of people infected has doubled in the last two weeks as a result of overcrowding in jails across Uttar Pradesh. Hundreds of inmates have tested positive for the virus, mostly as a result of inmates breaking social distancing rules as a result of jail overcrowding,” Bar Council chairman Rohitashwa Kumar Agarwal wrote in his letter. “The only available option to help relieve congestion and prevent the spread of virus appears to be decongesting prisons in order to preserve social distancing,” he said.

“The need of the hour in such unprecedented circumstances of the pandemic calls for consideration of temporary bail/ parole for the under trial/ convict, not based on legal considerations arising out of constitutional right to bail, but more in the sense of a human right to safeguard the life and health of the prisoners,” Agarwal wrote.

He said that the current letter was written with the support of the majority of members of the Bar Council, and that the Chief Justice is the guardian of every citizen of the state’s fundamental rights and human rights, and that as such, it is humbly prayed that judicial notice be taken of the alarming situation caused by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, in which the inmates due to a lack of access to prompt justice, as well as existing prison conditions that are unfit and proper for human life and protection in the current scenario.

“It is therefore humbly prayed that appropriate orders be passed for the release of under trial prisoners/ convicted persons who are facing trial or convicted to a maximum punishment of seven years or less, with or without fine, on interim bail/ parole, to help decongest jails and contain the virus, which in its second wave has robbed humanity, or any other directions/ orders as may be necessary,” the letter stated.

The chairman cited a decision made by the state government during the last corona wave, when a high-powered committee was formed and a policy decision was made to release under trial prisoners/convicts for offences for which the prescribed punishment was up to seven years or less, resulting in decongestion of jails across Uttar Pradesh and saving lives.