100 Covid criminals denied bail
NEW DELHI: At least 100 Tihar jail prisoners, arrested for nonheinous crimes like hoarding or black marketing of Covid-19 medical supplies, or cheating during the pandemic, have been denied interim bail by the Supreme Court-appointed high powered committee (HPC) in charge of decongesting the complex, according to officers privy to the development.
The HPC excluded them from the list of prisoners eligible for interim bail after Delhi police wrote to the committee, pointing out that such people took advantage of the chaos during the pandemic “to make wrong and undue profits by black marketing and selling drugs”. While their cases will be seen at par with those arrested for terror crimes, who are also excluded from interim-bail, they can apply for regular bail in courts as part of their ongoing trial.
On Thursday, the prison department, on the directions of the HPC, released at least 700 prisoners from the first batch of 1,133 who have been granted interim bail, to decongest the prison complex. Nearly 19,500 prisoners were lodged at Tihar jail, against a sanctioned capacity of 10,026. The released prisoners will have to surrender after 90 days. “It is good that such category of prisoners have been excluded. This will send a message to all people outside who are misusing people’s helplessness,”said a senior police officer.
Meanwhile, at least seven pregnant women undertrial prisoners, along with 25 other women and their children — about 26 of them aged below six — were also released from the women’s jail at Tihar on Thursday and Friday, in the backdrop of rising infections inside the women’s jail.
Meanwhile, authorities are still awaiting the state government’s orders to release 1,000 convicts eligible for “emergency parole”.