Delhi High Court extends interim bail of 2177 undertrial prisoners by another 45 days amid coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

The Delhi High Court on Saturday extended the interim bail of 2,177 undertrial prisoners by another 45 days in view of the prevailing coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic situation. This extension period starts from the expiry of their interim bail period.

The order stated, "The interim bails for a period of 45 days granted to 2,177 UTPs, ...are hereby extended by another period of 45 days from the date of their respective expiry of interim bails on the same terms and conditions."

It further said, "Director General (Prisons) shall ensure that this order is conveyed to all the 2,177 UTPs by telephone, as well as, through all other available modes. Ld. Member Secretary, DSLSA shall coordinate with DG (Prisons) in this."

A high power committee headed by Justice Hima Kohli had recommended the extension of the interim bails of under trial prisoners. The division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh passed the order on the recommendation of a High Power Committee.

A High Power Committee was constituted by the Delhi HC to decongest the jails to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and as per the recommendations of this Committee...2177 Under Trial Prisoners (UTPs) were released on interim bail for a period of 45 days from the date of their respective release.

The HPC noted that, the said period of 45 days in respect of some UTPs is going to expire on May 9 and for others it shall expire in coming days of May and in the first week of June but the situation of the pandemic is still the same.

The court further said, "Central Government has already extended the lockdown to May 17 and it may not be possible to predict definite date for resumption of normal functioning of the court system, so HPC was of the opinion that the interim bail so granted to 2177 UTPs by respective CMMs/MMs needs to be extended for a further period of 45 days.