[Coronavirus] Lower Courts to act as Session Courts for deciding interim bail applications of undertrial prisoners: Karnataka HC

As per a notification issued by the Karnataka High Court, Presiding Officers of certain lower courts shall exercise the jurisdiction of Sessions Court to pass interim bail orders with respect to undertrial prisoners..Pursuant to this, 33 Presiding Officers of various courts in the state have been granted the power to exercise the jurisdiction of a Sessions Court under Section 9(3) and 9(4) of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973..A notification has been issued in this regard with a view to decongesting prisons in wake of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic..Earlier, the Supreme Court had urged all states to consider releasing prisoners facing sentences of up to seven years in order to decongest prisons in light of Coronavirus pandemic..Another notice issued today states that advocates/parties-in-person/ litigants may send a request to the registered email ids of the respective District Courts in case of any extreme urgency..If extreme urgency is considered favourable by the Principal District Judge, then the necessary intimation will be issued accordingly for permitting e-filing of the matter, the notice states..Additionally, e-filed matters will be heard only on Tuesdays and Fridays between 11:00 am to 12:30 pm..The Karnataka High Court had recently notified that requests for hearing cases involving extreme urgency during the Coronavirus lockdown would have to be sent to the email ID of the Registrar (Judicial), High Court of Karnataka, at regjudicial@hck.gov.in..[Read both notifications here]