CHENNAI: As many as 618 cases were scrutinised and disposed of in adalat held in all prisons across State including eight central prisons and five prisons for women on Saturday. Of them, 339 cases were settled during the prison adalat procedure and at least 249 prisoners were released immediately.

As per the instructions of the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court Sanjay Vijaykumar Gangapurwala, Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority (TNSLSA) Executive chairman, Justice S Vaidyanathan directed all the district legal services authorities to conduct the prison adalat at all the central prisons, special prisons for women, district jails and sub-jails throughout the state on Saturday.

“Cases of large numbers of under-trial prisoners were taken up for hearing in these special courts. This will help us in overcoming the problem of overcrowding in prisons, as many of the inmates may be released from the prisons if their cases get closed today and if they don’t have to stay any longer in the prison. This effort is also a major step towards speedy justice, “ a senior official in the prisons department said.