Orissa High Court: The Division Bench of Dr S. Muralidhar, CJ. and Savitri Ratho, J., took up a matter which was pursuant to a direction which was issued on 09-03-2021 wherein compliance reports were asked to be submitted by the Member Secretary, Orissa State Legal Services Authority (OSLSA). The first concerned the issue regarding prisoners who were unable to be released despite being granted bail, the issues of early release of prisoners, and the conduct of the Jail Adalats. The second report was regarding compliance of the directions issued by this Court on the surprise jail visits by the District Magistrate and Secretaries of the DLSA or TLSC, on the conditions of the jails, conditions of the prisoners, issues of overcrowding and the status of facilities within the jails.
Mr G. Mishra, Senior Advocate (Amicus Curiae) for the petitioner filed a compilation which included, inter alia, the detailed order dated 07-05-2021 passed by the Supreme Court of India in Suo Motu Writ Petition (C) No.1 of 2020 (In Re: Contagion of COVID 19 virus in prisons). He pointed out that the status of occupancy of jails as far as Odisha was concerned has been uploaded on the website of the DG Prisons in compliance with the said directions. He drew the attention of the Court to the overcrowding of prisons.
The Court directed the State of Odisha to place before it a detailed action plan for dealing with this grave situation which requires immediate attention by 28-06-2021. The Court opined that there was an urgent need to decongest the prisons and to accommodate the prisoners in excess of the holding capacity of the concerned jail to be shifted in a phased manner n other safe and secure premises, which could be by upgrading other state buildings/facilities to meet the requirements of prisons.[Krushna Prasad Sahoo v. State of Odisha, 2021 SCC OnLine Ori 646, decided on 31-05-2021]
Suchita Shukla, Editorial Assistant has reported this brief.
