COVID-29 crisis: Two prisoners denied temporary bail move HC

Mumbai, Apr 7 () Two undertrials lodged atMaharashtra's Aurangabad Central Jail have approached theBombay High Court against a high-powered committee's decisionthat prisoners booked under special Acts will not be entitledto temporary bail in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

The undertrials - Nitin Shelke and MadhukarSuryawanshi - were not granted temporary bail by the prisonauthorities as they are booked under the MaharashtraProtection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act.

The petition, submitted before the Aurangabad bench ofthe Bombay High Court, challenged the March 25 decision of ahigh-powered committee which said prisoners prosecuted underspecial Acts would not be granted bail.

A single bench of Justice R G Avachat last weekdirected the state prisons department and the high-poweredcommittee to respond to the petition by April 8.

The petitioners sought a direction to the committeeand jail authorities that they be granted temporary bail.

On March 23, the Supreme Court in a suo moto (on itsown) petition directed for a high-powered committee to be setup to determine which class of prisoners can be released onparole or interim bail to reduce crowding in jails in view ofthe coronavirus outbreak.

It said the parameters would be nature of offence,sentence awarded to the convict and severity of the offence.

The two undertrials in their petition said, Thehigh-powered committee issued impugned decision with a blanketdisqualification against persons prosecuted for offences underSpecial Acts (other than IPC) like MCOCA, PMLA, MPID, NDPS andUAPA on the ground that there are higher restrictions on grantof bail in these Acts."

It said the committee, instead of issuing a blanketdisqualification order, should have given weightage toprisoners like women or aged persons or those suffering fromother ailments like diabetes, blood pressure and others.

"These persons are more vulnerable to be infected,the plea said.

As per the petition, out of 1,828 prisoners in theAurangabad Central Jail, also known as the Harsul Jail, only74 were granted temporary bail.

The two petitioners were not given bail as they wereaccused of offences punishable under the MPID Act.

Their lawyer Pradnya Talekar argued that maintainingsocial distancing was an impossible condition in prisons,which are over-crowded.

Further, the state is not in a position to providemedical facilities in case the prison inmates contract theviral infection. SPGK GK