In a temporary relief to nearly 5,500 prisoners in Chhattisgarh, the Supreme Court has extended the time to surrender for prisoners in the state who were released on interim bail or parole during the COVID19 pandemic.
A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and ruddha Bose extended the time to surrender of prisoners till January 6 or until further orders of the court and also issued notice to the Chhattisgarh government.
"Permission to file the Special Leave Petition is granted. Issue notice, returnable on January 5, 2021, before the appropriate Bench. Time to surrender is extended till January 6, 2021, or until further orders of this court," the bench said in its order while granting temporary relief who were released on bail or parole as per the directions of the High Powered Committee to decongest prisons during COVID-19.
The apex court order came on an appeal filed against the Chhattisgarh High Court order which had refused to extend the deadline for surrender beyond December 31, 2020.
Following the top court's March 23 order, the High Powered Committee (HPC) was constituted to decongest the prisons in the wake of CIVID-19.
The Chhattisgarh High Court on September 30 had directed that nearly 5,500 prisoners who were given interim bail or parole as per the recommendations of the HPC should surrender by December 1.
The High Court had said that prisoners can approach the appropriate court for an extension of time to surrender and later gave them one month time to enable them to file applications before the concerned courts, which meant that the prisoners have to surrender by December 31 unless their bail or parole is extended by concerned courts in individual cases.
A petition filed in the Supreme Court by Jay Jaiswal stated that there was overcrowding in Chhattisgarh prisons by 150 per cent and without making conscious efforts to decongest prisons, the High Court committed a "paramount mistake" ordering the surrender of released prisoners by December 31. It further said that the High Court order will create an "unprecedented COVID-19 crisis" in the prisons.
( With inputs from ANI )
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