50% of inmates lodged in jails in Maharashtra to be released
:In a significant move by the state, a high-powered committee headed by justice AA Sayed, along with additional chief secretary (home) Sanjay Chahande and director general of prisons SN Pandey, on Monday decided to release 50% of the total 35,239 inmates lodged in various prisons across the state.
A senior IPS (Indian Police Service) officer, who did not wish to be named, said, “Of the 50% of prisoners, 9,000 are convicts who will be granted parole. The remaining are undertrials. We plan to decongest the jails within eight to 10 days.”
But inmates who are facing trial will have to follow the due process of law. “The prisoners will have to get bail. This means that the due process of law will have to be followed,” said Sanjay Chahande, additional chief secretary (home). Prisoners who are eligible for a temporary bail will have to move the courts concerned and obtain an order. A parole leave, however, can be secured at prison level, Chahande added. The order, which comes a week after at least 184 positive cases were reported at the Arthur Road prison, does not give a time frame on when the prisoners will be released, nor does it state the category of prisoners who would be released.
However, none of the prisoners who are charged or convicted under the provisions of special statutes, such as the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA), 1999; the Maharashtra
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Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act; the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) or the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) will be released on temporary bail in view of the outbreak.
The committee on Monday also rejected a representation by advocate SB Talekar, contending that the decision to not release prisoners who are charged or convicted under special statutes was discriminatory. Talekar argued that the blanket exclusion of prisoners charged for offences under the special Acts was arbitrary and defeated the thrust of the Supreme Court (SC) order, dated March 23, to decongest prisons in the wake of the outbreak.
“In any event, the prisoners charged under the special Acts cannot claim to be released from prison as of right.the offences under MPID Act are against victims who are mostly poor depositors, and whose interests are required to be safeguarded and recoveries made from properties. The MPID Act is enacted to protect
the interest of the depositors and the prisoners charged for offences under the MPID Act cannot be treated as belonging to the same class of prisoners who are to be released on interim bail or parole,” it said.
However, Talekar’s representation was rejected on the grounds that the SC in a subsequent order on April 13 left it to the discretion of the high-powered panel to determine which category of prisoners can be released, depending upon the severity and nature of offence.
Justice BN Srikrishna, former SC judge, said, “If this is what the high-powered committee has stated then it’s absurd. If prisoners have to follow the due process of law, then why was the highpowered committee made? How can the committee distinguish between prisoners booked for special Acts and others. It is like distinguishing between the rich and the poor prisoners. If this is how it is, the Supreme Court has done nothing to fight the pandemic.”
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