"Covid Situation Alarming": Supreme Court Calls For Release Of Prisoners

A high-powered panel in each state has been tasked to determine the class of prisoners who can be released on parole or interim bail.

The Supreme Court on Friday asked states to release prisoners in a bid to decongest jails on account of the virulent second wave of coronavirus sweeping the country. A high-powered panel in each state has been tasked to determine the class of prisoners who can be released on parole or interim bail. "The Covid situation is alarming and we have to decongest the prisons," Chief Justice NV Ramana said, adding orders passed last year will have to be repeated. In March last year, the court took suo motu cognisance of the risk of COVID-19 infection spreading within and from the overcrowded prisons across the country while passing the orders for the prisoners' release.   The court had reasoned that social distancing, an effective check against the virus spread, was difficult in prisons.