The prisoners who have been released on parole from various prisons in Meghalaya during the period of Covid-19 pandemic will now have to go back behind bars as per the recent Supreme Court order.
In March 2020, a total of 94 prisoners and eight children in conflict with law were released from the Shillong district jail to reduce overcrowding and prevent spread of Covid-19.
The decision was taken by the High Powered Committee (HPC) headed by the Judge of Meghalaya High Court and executive chairman of the Meghalaya State Legal Services Authority (MSLSA), Justice Hamarsan S. Thangkhiew.
The HPC, which was constituted by the state government in compliance with the Supreme Court’s order, ordered the release of the prisoners on bail, interim bail and parole. The HPC has two members consisting of the Commissioner & Secretary (Prisons) and the Inspector General of Prison.
The Supreme Court on March 24 said that all prisoners, released on emergency parole by the state high-powered committees constituted on its order during the Covid pandemic, will have to surrender within 15 days.
The apex court’s bench of Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar said: “All those under-trials/ convicts who have been released on emergency parole/interim bail pursuant to the recommendation of the High-Powered Committee, in compliance of the orders, dated March 23, 2020, May 7, 2021 and July 16, 2021, passed by this court in suo motu writ petition a have to surrender before the concerned prison authorities within 15 days.”
The bench added, “However, it is observed that thereafter after the concerned prisoners/inmates surrender before the concerned prison authorities, it will be open for the concerned undertrials to pray for bail before the competent court and their applications be considered in accordance with law and on its own merits.”
Further, the bench noted that it is not in dispute and cannot be disputed that all those undertrial prisoners/convicts were released on interim bail/emergency parole taking into consideration the overcrowding in the prisons and to prevent the spread of Covid-19 virus among prisoners in overcrowded prisons.
“All those undertrial prisoners/convicts therefore were not released on merit but were released on the aforesaid ground alone. Therefore, now when the Covid-19 situation has now been normalised, all those prisoners/inmates/undertrial prisoners/convicts who are/were released on emergency parole/interim bail have to surrender before the concerned prison authorities,” it said.
In March 2020, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the medical assistance needed for prisoners in overcrowded jails to save them from coronavirus, and issued notices to the Chief Secretaries, the Home Secretaries, the DGs (Prisons) and Social Welfare Secretaries of all states and union territories.
During the first and second wave of the pandemic, the top court had passed several orders for grant of emergency parole to prisoners to avoid the overcrowding of prisons to contain the spread of the Covid-19 infection among them.
