Delhi High Court orders Tihar jail authorities to release 600 inmates

Apparently to decongest the Tihar jail, the Delhi High Court today passed orders directing the jail authorities to release 600 inmates, accused of minor offence and unable to provide personal surety for bail.

New Delhi, June 18 : Apparently to decongest the Tihar jail, the Delhi High Court today passed orders directing the jail authorities to release 600 inmates, accused of minor offence and unable to provide personal surety for bail.

The Court directive comes in the wake of a three-member committee report pointing out that the recent deaths in the jail was caused due to overcrowding, congestion and lack of proper facilities.

A division bench of Justice Pradeep Nandarajog and Justice P K Bhasin, passed the orders.

It said all 600 inmates in Tihar, booked under section 107 (security for keeping peace), Section 151 (arrest to prevent commission of cognizable offence) of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) due to non furnishing of surety, would be released on furnishing a personal bond of two rupees.

Earlier last week, six prisoners and one warden died in Tihar jail within a week due to dehydration, as an unusual heat wave gripped the capital with the mercury rising above 44 degree Celsius.

On June 13 the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Delhi Government ordered probes into rising death cases in Tihar.

The Delhi High Court had directed the Delhi Government and Tihar jail authorities to file a report within two days and explain how six inmates had died within a week.

ANI