High Court judge inspects over crowded jail in Kapurthala

Kapurthala, Nov 6 (UNI) Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge Ranjit Singh Randhawa found over-crowding as a major problem in the district jail here.

During inspection the Judge found that 395 inmates who were facing trials in different cases were lodged in the jail against the capacity of 250 persons.

Talking to mediapersons here yesterday, Justice Singh said he would recommend the construction of new jails to the government and to provide proper facilities to the inmates. He ordered the Jail Superintendent to construct more toilets and make provision of more water taps in the jail.

The judge accompanied by District and Sessions Judge, S P Bangarh and CJM S S Dhanoa spent more than two hours in the jail to redress the grievances of inmates. Justice Singh also ordered the district judicial officers to provide free legal aid to more than 30 inmates who were languishing in the jails as they failed to defend their cases due to poverty.

The Judge also directed the District and Sessions Judge to examine the case of one of the undertrials who had obtained the bail but could not furnish the bail bond due to poverty. The judge also directed the SSP to provide more guards to enable the inmates to appear in the courts. He gave this direction on the complaint of the prisoners who claimed that they were not taken to the courts for appearance in their cases due to shortage of security guards.

Replying to a question regarding the over crowding of jails , Justice Singh said liberal bail was the only solution in these circumstances and asked the judicial officers to exercise their discretion fearlessly by passing out judicious orders . He said that there was some apprehension in the minds of judges while passing out bail orders that the accused might not circumvent the justice after his release from jail and that was the reason judges were hesitant to release the accused on bails.

UNI XC SBA VP0422