Supreme Court orders Delhi prisoners released on parole during COVID-19 to surrender

The Supreme Court on Friday directed that prisoners in Delhi jails, who were released on emergency parole or interim bail during the COVID-19 pandemic, should surrender within 15 days [In Re: Contagion of Covid-19 Virus in Prisons]..A bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar allowed an application filed by the Delhi Director-General of Prisons in this regard."It is not in dispute and cannot be disputed that all those undertrial prisoners/convicts were released on interim bail/emergency parole taking into consideration the overcrowding in the prisons and to prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus among prisoners in over-crowded prisons. All those undertrial prisoners/convicts therefore were not released on merits but were released on the aforesaid ground alone. Therefore, now when the COVID-19 situation has now been normalized, all ... [those released] have to surrender before the concerned prison authorities," the bench directed.The Court, however, clarified that after such surrender before the concerned prison authorities, the convicts/undertrials would be at liberty to move bail applications or pray for suspension of sentence before appropriate courts. The same is to be considered on merits and in accordance with law, the Court said..The order came in a suo motu petition dealing with containment of COVID-19 in Indian prisons. During the first and second waves of the pandemic, the Court had granted emergency parole or bail to several undertrial prisoners and convict-inmates as an interim measure to arrest the spread of COVID-19.This was pursuant to the recommendations of High-Powered Committees in various States, constituted as per the top court's orders.These committees comprised the chairperson of the State Legal Services Committee, the principal secretary of the home department, and the Director-Generals of Prison. The bodies was tasked with identifying prisoners who could be granted parole/bail..The same bench on Friday also dismissed an application by a convict seeking consideration of the parole granted during the COVID-19 pandemic to be counted as part of his actual sentence, since the same was involuntary..Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati appeared for the applicant.[Read Judgment]