Umamageswari Maruthappan
Following two petitions demanding vaccination of prisoners who were out of bail and parole, the Delhi High Court sought response from the Delhi Government, AAP in this regard by 26th March 2021.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh ordered the AAP Government to take “immediate” action on the concerned matter.
Rahul Mehra, appearing for the Government, clarified that “”there was nothing to worry about as everything is under control.” He further stated that there has been no reported cases of Covid-19 positive in jails.
The Court directed the Government to file an affidavit stating the steps that it had taken so far and also its further process on the issue.
Two petitions, one by a 63-year old life imprisoned convict and second, by four advoc, asha Shrawat, Prabhash, Kartik Malhotra and Manav Narula, requested on vaccinating prisoners who were out on bail and parole in order to prevent the spread of virus when they come back to jails.
The pleas also seek vaccination of jail authorities and security staff and also all the prisoners.
The pleas further highlighted the space constraints in Delhi jails. As on 14th January 2021, there are 16,396 inmates in three prisons in Delhi.
However, the total capacity of these three jails is only 10,026. This clearly indicates that there is no possibility of social distancing.
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