Plea Filed Before SC Seeking Fresh Guidelines To Address Decongestion Of Prisons In Wake Of Prevailing COVID-19 Pandemic

The plea, stating that it is a Social Action Litigation, prays for the proper and effective implementation of the orders rendered by the Apex Court and submits that classification of inmates eligible for release on parole/interim bail by the High-Powered Committee is unreasonable, arbitrary and unjust.

Filed by Advocate Deepak Prakash on behalf of All India Association of Jurists through its National General Secretary Vishnu Shankar, the plea states that prisoners are at maximum risk of contracting COVID-19 as a result of the congested, crammed-up spaces in prison and that the same has been acknowledged by the Supreme Court in its order directing for the HPC to determine which class of prisoners can be released on parole/interim bail.

"…it is established that the sole intention behind constituting the HPC in various States is decongestion of jail premises to safeguard the health and welfare of the inmates while giving the HPC a discretionary power to formulate their own guidelines depending upon the nature of offence, the number of years to which he or she has been sentenced or the severity of the offence with which he/she is charged with and is facing trial or any other relevant factor, which the Committee may consider appropriate".

The plea then avers that the HPCs have not complied with the Supreme Court's order as directions laid down in Shilpa Mittal v. State of NCT of Delhi delineating what constitutes a "heinous offence" have not been taken into consideration while deciding the "severity of the offences". Therefore, the plea submits, the HPC has failed in exercising its discretionary powers by doing so without proper application of judicial mind.

Referring to the 7^th May 2021 order of the Supreme Court which elaborates these discretionary powers, the plea states that the HPCs should have formulated their own guidelines on the basis of classification of crime as per Shilpa Mittal, and that the guidelines which have been laid down as "arbitrary in nature due to the unreasonable classification having no nexus with the object to be achieved".

"It appears that there is grave disparity between the classification and categorization of inmates, owing to non-application of judicial mind with respect to offences falling under 'heinous', 'serious' and 'ordinary' offences, as laid down by this Hon'ble Court in the case of Shilpa Mittal".

In light of the above, the plea prays for specific orders to be rendered by the Court to effectively implement the law laid down in Shilpa Mittal for classification of the severity of offences. It further seeks consideration of house arrest in appropriate and for strict assurance that not more than half of the capacity of jail premises are occupied at any given time in view of the prevailing pandemic.

The plea concludes with seeking directions to NALSA for formulation of a fresh Standard Operating Procedure in view of the "imminent and confirmed third wave of COVID-19 pandemic".