Nearly 200 under-trial prisoners have been identified in the Jammu and Kashmir for release on bail in order to “unclog the prisons.”
The government’s decision is a part of the campaign launched on the 75th year of independence of India.
The orders in this regard will be passed by the respective Principal District and Sessions Judges before August 13, reported Daily Excelsior.
According to report, the issue of under-trial prisoners was one of the moot points addressed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he spoke at the joint conference of the Chief Ministers and High Court Chief Justices in the month of April this year.
He had appealed all the Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of the High Courts to give priority to the matters on basis of humanitarian sensibility and law.
Thereafter, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, in the month of June this year, issued a set of guidelines to the State and Union Territories on the grant of special remission to the prisoners to commemorate the 75th year of independence of the country. Even Chief Justice of India N V Ramana appealed the District Judicial Officers to intervene in securing much deserved relief for under-trials and Justice Uday U Lalit, Supreme Court Judge and Executive Chairman of National Legal Services Authority, announced plan to put in place legal aid system in this regard, said the reports.
According to the reports, a total of 374 under-trial prisoners and convicts were shortlisted in Jammu and Kashmir for release on bail as part of “Ease of Justice” campaign but the respective District Under-Trial Review Committees have approved nearly 200 such prisoners by strictly following the 16-point criteria laid down in this regard.
Principal District and Sessions Judge of the district heads the District Under-Trial Review Committee while as Deputy Commissioner, Senior Superintendent of Police, Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority and Superintendent of the concerned prison act as members of the committee.
“The names of all these 200 under-trial prisoners have been submitted to the respective Principal District and Sessions Judge Courts which will pass formal orders of bail well before August 13,” the newspaper quoted sources as having said, adding “in the bail orders the Principal District and Sessions Judges will also spell out the conditions keeping in view the offence committed by the under-trial prisoners/convicts”.
These under-trial prisoners also include those who were granted bail by the courts during the pandemic and they have adhered to all the conditions of the bond and have either returned to the prison on the stipulated date or have regularly attended court on due hearings and those who are above 65 years of age, reported Daily Excelsior.
