Despite Supreme Court orders to set out prisoners on parole and undertrials on interim bail to avoid overcrowding jails in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, anti-CAA protesters in Rajasthan who were arrested last month have been kept in a jail in Baran district.
The justification given for the same is that lower courts have rejected their bail applications and the Rajasthan high court has said that releasing accused and convicts doesn’t fall under the “extreme urgent matter” category.
“Release of accused or convict at the cost of breaching the order of lockdown and at the cost of risking lives of many cannot be considered to fall within the category of extreme urgent matter,” read the high court order dated March 31.
The order further stated that the high courts have holidays on Holi, Dussehra and Diwali and during this period as well as bail applications and applications for suspension of sentences are not taken up.
The high court also referred to a report submitted by the director-general, prisons stating that prisons in Rajasthan are not overcrowded and inmates, both old and new, regularly undergo medical check-ups.
—India Legal Bureau
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