Delhi High Court orders release of 600 prisoners from Tihar jail

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, June 18 (UNI) Delhi High Court today ordered Tihar jail authorities to release 600-odd prisoners who have been subjected to preventive detention, on their furnishing a personal bond of Rs 2000 each.

Redressing the problem of overcrowding in the jail, the court directed the release of the 600-odd prisoners, who are languishing in jail as they have no one to stand their surety. It ruled that the detainees who have been booked under offences like Section 107 read with Section 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) may be released on a personal bond. They would however be required to report to their local police staions daily and mark their presence.

''These inmates need to be set free without surety. Threat, to citizens, if any due to activities of these prisoners, can be met by directing these inmates to mark their presence with their local police stations,'' a vacation bench comprising Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice P K Bhasin said.

Taking suo-moto action on the findings of the three-member Fact Finding Committee looking into the seven deaths which occurred in the jail within a period of seven days in a row this month and issued notice to the Delhi Jal Board and the Tihar officials, to reply by July 2, as to why there are no satisfactory provisions in the jail relating to the problem of water, space and other amenities.

The court had, on June 14, formed a three-member commitee to look into the cause of deaths of seven inmates of Tihar jail within a week. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate(ACMM) Seema Maini, who was one of the committee members, told the Court that there seemed to be a ''nexus'' between some Jail officials and ''some persons'' to keep some people in jail. Besides the nexus, the report suggests that the reason for the deaths could be the constraint of space as Tihar has more than double the capacity of inmates than it can accomodate.

The report also highlighted the acute shortage of water in the jail. There are about eight outlets of water but only four of them were functional and even they worked for about half-an-hour daily in which water comes out at a trickle.The report also said that due to the exessive number of inmates in the jail -- about 13,712 inmates as its capacity of 6258 -- extremly harsh and hard environmental conditions existed in the jail with the ''stench of urine and sweat so strong that the fact-finding committee could not stay there for long.'' The report also said that the medical facilities in the jail hospital were not satisfactory and many posts of medical officers were lying vacant.

The court directed the Deli Government to ensure that the sanctioned posts of the medical staff be filled. It also directed the administration to increase number of exhaust fans in the jail cells to increase the inflow of fresh air and improve the circulation.

Dealing with the major issues, the court left the other related issues to be dealt onthe next date of hearing, July 2.

UNI

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